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Archaeologists have discovered more than 110 prehistorical cave painting and engraving date to at least 24,000 years ago near Valencia , Spain .
The Paleolithic , or Stone Age , rock music art is " arguably the most important found on the Eastern Iberian Coast in Europe , " the team pronounce in astatementabout the determination .
An archeologist illuminates a part of the cave in Spain that’s rich with artistic motifs.
Locals and hikers have long known about Cova Dones ( also spell Cueva Dones ) , a 1,640 - foot - long ( 500 meters ) cave in the municipality of Millares . Although Iron Age finds were jazz from the cave , the Paleolithic artwork was n’t documented until research worker discovered it in 2021 .
At first , the squad found four paint motifs , include the caput of an aurochs ( Bos primigenius ) , an nonextant oxen species . extra study in 2023 reveal the web site as a " major Palaeolithic art bema , " the researchers write in a study published Sept. 8 in the journalAntiquity .
" When we visit the first painted auroch[s ] , we immediately recognise it was important,“Aitor Ruiz - Redondo , a fourth-year lecturer of prehistory at the University of Zaragoza in Spain and a research affiliate at the University of Southampton in the U.K. , said in the statement .
An engraved hind (female red deer) etched into the wall of the cave.
Spain has the most Paleolithic cave - art sites in the humans , including theup to 36,000 - class - honest-to-god cave artat La Cueva de Altamira , but most are find oneself in the northern part of the country , making the localisation of the new discovery unparalleled . " Eastern Iberia is an region where few of these sites have been documented so far , " Ruiz - Redondo enounce .
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The Paleolithic composition stand up out due to the gossamer number of motive and technique used to make them . The cave may even exhibit the most Stone Age motifs of any cave in Europe ; the last big breakthrough of this variety was the determination of at least 70 cave paintings from up to 14,500 years agoat Atxurrain Spain ’s northern Basque Country , in 2015 .
In the new study , the researchers document at least 19 delineation of animals , including gymnastic horse , hinds ( female red cervid ) , wisent and a stag . The other art includes signs like rectangles , stray lines and " macaroni " shallow - channel line of products made by dragging fingers or tools across a soft open . Many of the motive were made using red , atomic number 26 - rich Lucius Clay — a technique rarely get wind in palaeolithic art , the researchers say .
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" Animals and signs were depicted simply by dragging the digit and palms insure with clay on the walls , " Ruiz - Redondo said . The cave ’s humid environment helped the paintings dry slowly , " preventing parts of the clay from falling down rapidly , while other parting were wrap up by calcite layers , which preserved them until today , " he aver .
Some of the engravings were crafted by scrap limestone on the cave ’s walls , the squad added .
The investigations of the " plentiful graphic assemblage " are still in the early stages , as there are still more areas of the cave to follow and panels to written document , the research worker wrote in the survey .
