Researchers in southern Spain recently discovered and examined the oldest evidence of basketry and sandals in Europe, revealing previously unknown details about hunter-gatherers and farming societies during the Mesolithic and early Neolithic periods.
The findings resulted from researchers’ examination of 76 artifacts made of organic materials that were initially uncovered in the 19th century in the Cave of Los Murciélagos, located along the southern coast of Granada, Spain. Archaeologists from the Universidad de Alcalá and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona detailed their work in a report published on September 27 in the journal Science Advances.
The prehistoric assemblage that researchers examined consisted of 10 wooden items, one object made of reed, and 65 artifacts made of esparto grass-based fibers. Using radiocarbon dating, the research team found that these artifacts originated between 9,500 and 6,200 years ago — thousands of years earlier than previously thought. Whereas earlier studies categorized “all organic materials from the cave” as dating back to the Neolithic period, this most recent analysis clearly found that several baskets made with intricate twining techniques were made by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies.
“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,” head researcher Francisco Martinez-Sevilla said in a statement. He added that the complexity of the basketry “makes us question the simplistic assumptions we have about human communities prior to the arrival of agriculture in southern Europe.”
Researchers also found that sandals, twisted cords, and additional basket and bag fragments corresponded to early Neolithic farming communities, representing “the earliest and widest-ranging assemblage of prehistoric footwear, both in the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe, unparalleled at other latitudes.”
In southern Europe, well-preserved artifacts dating to the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods are “extremely rare” to find, and many known archaeological evidence is waterlogged, charred, or damaged as a result of excessive drying, the researchers explained in their report. But because of the geographic location and “null humidity” of the Cave of Los Murciélagos, the site has provided “unique conditions” for the preservation of artifacts made of perishable organic materials.
First accessed in 1831, the cave was later subjected to mining in the mid-19th century that revealed partially mummified human remains, in addition to the baskets, wooden tools, and an assortment of other artifacts. These mining activities subsequently led to the burning and dispersing of these artifacts outside of the cave. However, despite this destruction, the researchers maintain that this group of artifacts “represents one of the oldest and best-preserved collections of hunter-gatherer basketry in southern Europe.”
“There are more questions than answers already,” Martinez-Sevilla told Hyperallergic.
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