Interior of the Cueva de los Murciélagos de Albuñol. Credit: Blas Ramos Rodríguez
A group of scientists, led by scientists from the Universidad de Alcalá (UAH) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has found and evaluated the first direct evidence of basketry amongst nomadic hunter-gatherers and initial farming neighborhoods in southern Europe, particularly within the Cueva de los Murciélagos in Albuñol, Granada, Spain.
Their research, which was just recently published in the journal Science Advances, examined 76 artifacts crafted from natural products like wood, esparto, and reed. These items were originally found during mining operations in the 19th century within the aforementioned collapse Granada.
The researchers studied the raw products and technology and performed carbon-14 dating, which exposed that the set dates to the early and middle Holocene period, between 9,500 and 6,200 years earlier. This is the very first direct proof of basketry made by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies in southern Europe and an unique set of other natural tools associated with early Neolithic farming neighborhoods, such as sandals and a wood mace.
As scientist of the Prehistory Department of the University of Alcalá Francisco Martínez Sevilla discusses, “The new dating of the esparto baskets from the Cueva de los Murciélagos of Albuñol opens a window of chance to comprehending the last hunter-gatherer societies of the early Holocene. The quality and technological complexity of the basketry makes us question the simplistic presumptions we have about human neighborhoods prior to the arrival of agriculture in southern Europe. This work and the job that is being established locations the Cueva de los Murciélagos as an unique site in Europe to study the organic products of ancient populations.”
As detailed by María Herrero Otal, co-author of the work and researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, “the esparto lawn things from Cueva de los Murciélagos are the earliest and best-preserved set of plant fiber products in southern Europe so far understood. The technological variety and the treatment of the raw material documented demonstrates the capability of prehistoric communities to master this type of craftsmanship, at least given that 9,500 years earlier, in the Mesolithic period.
The oldest Mesolithic baskets in southern Europe, 9,500 years of ages. Credit: MUTERMUR Project
Reassessing Prehistoric Technologies
As scientist of the Prehistory Department of the University of Alcalá Francisco Martínez Sevilla describes, “The new dating of the esparto baskets from the Cueva de los Murciélagos of Albuñol opens a window of opportunity to understanding the last hunter-gatherer societies of the early Holocene. The quality and technological intricacy of the basketry makes us question the simplistic assumptions we have about human communities prior to the arrival of farming in southern Europe. This work and the job that is being developed locations the Cueva de los Murciélagos as a distinct site in Europe to study the organic products of prehistoric populations.”
Cueva de los Murciélagos: A Unique Prehistoric Site
Cueva de los Murciélagos is found on the coast of Granada, to the south of the Sierra Nevada and 2 kilometers from the town of Albuñol. The cavern opens on the ideal side of the Barranco de las Angosturas, at an altitude of 450 meters above sea level and about 7 kilometers from the existing coastline.
It is among the most emblematic ancient archaeological websites of the Iberian Peninsula due to the rare conservation of natural products, which till this research study had actually only been credited to the Neolithic.
Artistic entertainment of the usage of Mesolithic baskets by a group of hunter-gatherers in the Cueva de los Murciélagos de Albuñol. Credit: Moisés Belilty Molinos, with the scientific guidance of Francisco Martínez-Sevilla and Maria Herrero-Otal
The objects made of disposable products were found by the mining activities of the 19th century and were recorded and recuperated by Manuel de Góngora y Martínez, later ending up being part of the first collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid.
Ancient Mastery of Plant Fibers
As detailed by María Herrero Otal, co-author of the work and scientist at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, “the esparto lawn objects from Cueva de los Murciélagos are the earliest and best-preserved set of plant fiber products in southern Europe up until now known. The technological variety and the treatment of the raw material documented demonstrates the ability of prehistoric neighborhoods to master this type of workmanship, at least because 9,500 years back, in the Mesolithic duration. Just one type of technique related to hunter-gatherers has been determined, while the typological, technological, and treatment variety of esparto grass was extended during the Neolithic from 7,200 to 6,200 years before today.”
Wooden mace and esparto shoes, dating back to the Neolithic 6,200 years earlier (right). Credit: MUTERMUR Project
The work belongs to the project “De los museos al territorio: actualizando el estudio de la Cueva de los Murciélagos de Albuñol (Granada)” ( MUTERMUR), which has actually been funded by the Community of Madrid and the Universidad de Alcalá.
The objective of this task is the holistic study of the site and its product record, using the current archaeometric strategies and producing quality clinical data. The task likewise consisted of the cooperation of the National Archaeological Museum, the Archaeological and Ethnological Museum of Granada, the City Council of Albuñol, and the owners of the cavern.
” The outcomes of this work and the finding of the earliest basketry in southern Europe provide more significance, if possible, to the expression written by Manuel de Góngora in his work Prehistoric Antiquities of Andalusia (1868 ): the now permanently popular Cueva de los Murciélagos,” the authors highlight.
Reference: “The earliest basketry in southern Europe: Hunter-gatherer and farmer plant-based technology in Cueva de los Murciélagos (Albuñol)” by Francisco Martínez-Sevilla, Maria Herrero-Otal, María Martín-Seijo, Jonathan Santana, José A. Lozano Rodríguez, Ruth Maicas Ramos, Miriam Cubas, Anna Homs, Rafael M. Martínez Sánchez, Ingrid Bertin, Rosa Barroso Bermejo, Primitiva Bueno Ramírez, Rodrigo de Balbín Behrmann, Antoni Palomo Pérez, Antonio M. Álvarez-Valero, Leonor Peña-Chocarro, Mercedes Murillo-Barroso, Eva Fernández-Domínguez, Manuel Altamirano García, Rubén Pardo Martínez, Mercedes Iriarte Cela, Javier L. Carrasco Rus, Carmen Alfaro Giner and Raquel Piqué Huerta, 27 September 2023, Science Advances.DOI: 10.1126/ sciadv.adi3055.
In addition to Francisco Martínez Sevilla and María Herrero Otal, specialists from different disciplines such as Prehistory, Geology, Physics-Chemistry, Carpology or Anthracology took part in this interdisciplinary research study: María Martín-Seijo (Universidad de Cantabria); Jonathan Santana (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria); José A. Lozano Rodríguez (Oceanographic Center of the Canary Islands); Ruth Maicas Ramos (National Archaeological Museum); Miriam Cubas, Rosa Barroso Bermejo, Primitiva Bueno Ramírez and Rodrigo de Balbín Behrmann (Universidad de Alcalá); Anna Homs; Rafael M. Martínez Sánchez (Universidad de Córdoba) Ingrid Bertin (Université Côte dAzur); Antonio M. Álvarez-Valero (Universidad de Salamanca); Leonor Peña Chocarro (Instituto de Historia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas); Javier L. Carrasco Rus, Rubén Pardo Martínez and Mercedes Murillo Barroso (Universidad de Granada); Eva Fernández Domínguez (Durham University); Manuel Altamirano García (Universidad a Distancia); Mercedes Iriarte Cela (Centro Tecnológico y de Investigación SDLE); Carmen Alfaro Giner (Universitat de València); Antoni Palomo Pérez and Raquel Piqué Huerta (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona).
