PROPERTY SEARCH

Date Published: 07/12/2022

ARCHIVED - Esteemed palaeontologists will explore Cueva Victoria in Cartagena for evidence of human settlements

ARCHIVED ARTICLE -

Researchers have already discovered the remains of prehistoric hyenas and other animals in the Cartagena cave

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Esteemed palaeontologists will explore Cueva Victoria in Cartagena for evidence of human settlements

Cartagena’s mysterious Cueva Victoria archaeological site continues to hold many secrets but two esteemed scientists now want to unearth evidence that the prehistoric cave holds fossils of our forefathers. To date, an impressive array of animal remains have been discovered, but palaeontologists and professors from the Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona and researchers from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) want to open a new line of research to establish if the caves were, in fact, inhabited by humans.

Various palaeontological features show that the geological formation was used as a den by an ancient species of hyena around 1.2 million years ago. Over the last few decades, scientists have also uncovered the remains of horses, dolphins, birds and even elephants. Up until now though, there has been no conclusive evidence that these animals were joined in Cueva Victoria by early man, since hominid fossils from this period are extremely rare.

Cartagena’s vice mayor and head of the Archaeological Heritage area, Ana Belén Castejón, recently met with Eduald Carbonell and Antoni Canals, both of whom are part of the Atapuerca research team from the archeological site in Burgos (northern Spain) and who are interested in delving further into the Victoria Cave’s exciting history.

“I believe that it is a great opportunity for Cueva Victoria, since we are talking about two very prestigious researchers in the field of palaeontology and who also already have experience in this site. We are going to study your proposal very seriously,” Castejón told the scientists.

The researchers are especially interested in unearthing more lithic items, stone tools that are know to have been created by the first hominids and have previously been discovered at the Cartagena site. Almost a million years old, these fossils date back to the Lower Palaeolithic stage.

Also of interest: New easyJet Murcia-London Luton flights to land in 2023

Images: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena

Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox

Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)