BARCELONA, SPAIN—Live Science reports that more than 7,000 bones have been found in single and communal graves in the Cova dels Xaragalls, or Cave of the Ravines, which is located in northeastern Spain. The earliest burials are about 7,000 years old, according to Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) and the Merida Institute of Archaeology. Artifacts recovered from the burials, including ceramics, flint tools, and necklaces, indicate that high-status individuals were buried in the single graves. Most of the burials date to the Chalcolithic period, while the youngest burials date to the Bronze Age, some 3,000 years ago. The different groups who used the cave likely lived in the nearby fertile valleys, and would have had to carry the dead up a small mountain in order to bury them in the cave. It also seems that each group respected the earlier burials, Rodríguez-Hidalgo explained. “At the moment, we have a few dates that allow us to understand that the cave was used as a tomb for millennia,” Rodríguez-Hidalgo said. “Now we have to resolve whether it was continuous or not—we need to undertake a comprehensive radiocarbon dating to clarify this point,” he concluded. To read about cave paintings discovered in Spain's province of Valencia that date to more than 20,000 years ago, go to "Paleo Palette."
