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The discovery of more than 100 prehistoric structures in the Cova Dones cave in Spain makes it one of the most significant prehistoric underground sites in the world.
Archaeologists found stalagmites intentionally reassembled within the caves, dating them to prehistoric times.
Questions remain about the purpose of the underground structures in a cave already known for a wealth of finds.
Prehistoric humans intentionally modified stalagmites in the Cova Dones cave in Spain, forming over 100 structures—known as speleofacts—as a result. The recent archaeological find becomes one of the most significant prehistoric underground discoveries in the world, according to the team behind the discovery.
“This finding shows the adaptation of the environment by the prehistoric communities and places the site as the second most important in the world in this category, only behind the French cave of Saint-Marcel,” the discovery team from the universities of Alicante and Zaragoza wrote in a translated statement.
Located in Millares, Cova Dones may have just jumped to the forefront of prehistoric underground discussions, but answers may be hard to come by. The archaeological team identified more than 100 speleofacts coming from the fracture, displacement, or regrouping of stalagmites to form structures. Experts believe this is “convincing evidence of the planned occupation of the underground environment by prehistoric societies.”
Still, some of the patterning of the recreated forms leaves questions as to their purpose, whether ritual or instead related to site planning by forming boundaries.
The team was able to start dating the speleofacts thanks to calcium regrowth on the fractures, allowing them to “attribute, at least partially, these interventions to prehistoric periods.” The researchers plan to continue to study the speleofacts to better date the timing of the underground work and “accurately determine the scope and chronology of these structures.”
This isn’t the first time the prehistoric nature of Cova Dones has surfaced. In 2023, Antiquity published a study classifying the cave as home to the largest set of Paleolithic rock art on the eastern Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, with more than 100 paintings and engravings dated around 24,000 years old. The paintings included at least 19 animal representation in three different zones in the cave, some roughly 1,300 feet from the entrance. The study noted that all the zones were easily accessible without any climbing required.
Key animals shown in the graphics included horses, deer, aurochs, and a stag. The researchers were able to date the cave art because of an overlap with cave bear claw marks and the artwork. Cave bears went extinct roughly 24,000 years ago.
Shortly after the rock art finding, the existence of a 1,900-year-old Roman sanctuary was revealed in a room roughly 650 feet from the entrance of the cave, with a set of inscriptions and a coin of Emperor Claudius.
The 2023 study noted that much of the cave system was yet unexplored by modern archaeologists, opening the possibility for additional finds.
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