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archeologist have discovered evidence of Roman occupation and ritual activeness hidden inside a partially flooded cave in Spain . The stay date to about 1,900 years ago , researchers say .
The researchers were explore the depths of the cave , which is located in easterly Spain , by flashlight when they mark a rust-brown coin wedged between a crack in the ceiling and a stalactite , harmonise to a translatedstatement . Subsequent analysis revealed that the coin dates from the prison term of Emperor Claudius , who ruled theRoman Empirefrom A.D. 41 to 54 . The coin was likely put there as an offer , the investigator observe .
Archaeologists discovered a Roman coin inside a crack in the ceiling of the Cova de les Dones in eastern Spain.
The team also let out 15 inscriptions that were in all likelihood carved into the rock’n’roll by people survive on the Iberian Peninsula during R.C. military control of the neighborhood — although the meaning behind them remains unclear . Together , the marking and the coin indicate that these citizenry considered the cave to be a sanctuary , concord to the statement .
discovery going back to the sixties advise humans have occupied the Cova de les Dones , which in Catalan Spanish means " char ’s cave , " for thousands of years .
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Analyses revealed that the coin dates from the time of Emperor Claudius.
" The inscription and the coin put up irrefutable evidence that the asylum continued to be used or was repurposed by the Romans,“Aitor Ruiz - Redondo , a professor of prehistory at the University of Zaragoza in Spain who co - go the cave geographic expedition , told the Spanish regional newspaperLevante .
The Cova de les Dones is get laid to holdIron Age ceramicsand prehistoric stone art , including a representation of an auroch ’s head and a hart . A 2023 study release in the journalAntiquitycatalogued more than 110 paintings deep inside the cave . Cave bear ( Ursus spelaeus ) claw scar that overlap with some of the house painting suggest the art is more than 24,000 years old , because cave bears proceed extinct in Europe around this time , according to the study .
Romans may have performed rituals in the cave during the first 100 A.D. , the raw findings point . " This discovery confirms the continuity of the land site ’s ritual habit throughout dissimilar historical menstruation , " Ruiz - Redondo tell .
A section of the Cova de les Dones holds 15 Roman inscriptions, but the meaning behind them is unclear.
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The Roman inscriptions are locate roughly 660 base ( 200 meters ) from the cave entryway . The Cova de les Dones consist of a individual , 1,640 pes - deep ( 500 m ) sleeping accommodation and afford onto a exorbitant canyon , according to the 2023 study .
Large sections of the cave stay undiscovered , so archeologist will likely find more grounds of ancient human activity in the coming old age , according to the statement . Even the acknowledge section of prehistoric art could concede surprise , as researchers have only studied one - fifth of the painting in particular so far .
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