The discovery of a cave decorated with prehistoric paintings dating back 24 thousand years!

The cave was already known to locals and hikers in the area, but until this day in June 2021, no one had noticed the delicate paintings adorning its walls. It was a team of researchers from the universities of Zaragoza, Alicante and Southampton who, upon visiting the Cova Dunes cave, realized that they were encountering a true marvel. The walls of the cave are decorated with more than 100 prehistoric statues dating back at least 24 thousand years, making it the most important site of this kind on the Spanish eastern coast.

The ornate Cova Dunes Cave: a major find

Cova Dones Cave is actually located in the city of Millares near Valencia. An area in which only a few Paleolithic paintings have so far been observed compared to the rest of the country. It is also possible that it is the cave with the largest number of decorations discovered in Europe since those found in the Achaura Cave in 2015.

More than 100 paintings made of clay

Nineteen different animals are represented, including aurochs, horses and deer. Besides these animal shapes, researchers have identified numerous fingerprints and hand marks. Most of these paintings were made using clay, a technique rarely seen, partly due to the poor preservation of this type of painting. But here, they were remarkably preserved thanks to the humid environment of the cave that prevented the clay from drying out too quickly and falling to the ground. Some of them were covered with calcite, which also protected them from the passage of time.

The first observations have been published In the magazine AntiquityBut researchers explain that the cave still has a lot of information to offer!