Posted inArt, Prehistory

New Dating Confirms That Realistic Figures and Abstract Symbols Coexisted in Altamira from Very Early Stages

A recent study on the cave paintings of the Altamira Cave in Santillana del Mar, Cantabria (Spain) has concluded that some of the artworks it contains could be much older than previously believed, dating back more than 30,000 years. Although the cave was discovered more than 140 years ago, the exact chronology of the artworks […]

Posted inBronze Age Archaeology

Rare Glass Ornaments from Egypt Found in Spanish Sites Predate Phoenician Colonization

A multidisciplinary study led by researchers from the University of Alicante (UA) and the University of Augsburg (Germany) has discovered that glass ornaments reached the Iberian Peninsula from Central Europe, Egypt, and the Near East during the Bronze Age. The research, based on the analysis of 17 glass beads recovered from archaeological sites in Alicante […]

Posted inStone Age Archaeology

A Prehistoric Community Lived for a Thousand Years Without Hierarchies or Inequality in the Largest Copper Age Settlement in Europe

For over a thousand years, between 3300 and 2150 BCE, a prehistoric settlement located in what is now the town of Valencina de la Concepción in Seville was the permanent home of a community that, far from reproducing rigid hierarchies or centralized forms of domination, organized its life around principles of equality, cooperation, and sustainability. […]

Posted inClassical Archaeology

First Stone Mold Used for Coin Minting in Hispania in the 2nd Century BCE Found at the Obulco Site in Jaén

A team of researchers from the University of Jaén has identified the first stone mold used for coin production in ancient Hispania. The discovery, made at the archaeological site of Obulco, in present-day Porcuna (Jaén), provides new insights into the coin manufacturing processes during the Republican period and the organization of minting workshops, whose location […]

Posted inBronze Age Archaeology

Borders of El Argar, the First State of the Iberian Peninsula During the Bronze Age, Identified

A recent study conducted by researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology has precisely identified the economic and political borders that, approximately 4,000 years ago, defined the territory of El Argar. Considered the first state structure of the Iberian Peninsula, this society maintained complex relationships with […]

Posted inArt, Stone Age Archaeology

Prehistoric Engravings Found in Marbella Could Precede the Oldest Cave Art by 100,000 Years

The city of Marbella (Málaga, Spain) has witnessed an archaeological discovery that could rewrite the history of prehistoric art on the Iberian Peninsula. In the Coto Correa site, located in Las Chapas, a team of experts has identified a stone block with engravings that could be over 200,000 years old. This finding, made as part […]

Posted inStone Age Archaeology

A Facial Fragment of Homo affinis erectus Found in Atapuerca Is the Oldest “Human Face” in Western Europe

The Sima del Elefante site, in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain), has once again been the scene of an extraordinary discovery. A team of researchers has identified a human facial fragment dated between 1.1 and 1.4 million years old, making it the oldest face ever discovered in Western Europe. This discovery, led by IPHES-CERCA […]