Paleoanthropologists from Germany and Spain have described human remains discovered during excavations of the caves of Reclau Viver and Mollet III, which are located in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. The bones belonged to at least four adult men who lived about 27-25 thousand years ago, that is, at the end of the Gravettian period. As reported in an article published in the Journal of Human Evolution, the finds from these two sites, according to the researchers, represent the earliest intentional burials of Cro-Magnons discovered in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula.
Over the years of research, archaeologists have discovered many Upper Paleolithic sites on the Iberian Peninsula associated with anatomically modern humans. However, human remains, especially intentional burials, are rare at sites in the region dating back to the Aurignacian and Gravettian periods (approximately 40,000 to 26,000–24,000 years ago). One of the rare exceptions is the Lagar Velho site in Portugal. In this cave, scientists discovered the skeleton of a child who was buried about 29,400–28,300 years ago.
There are also several other sites with human remains from that time. For example, in the Catalan municipality of Serinyà, where a number of ancient hunter-gatherer sites have been discovered, among others, the Reclau Viver and Mollet III caves are located in close proximity to each other, the first excavations of which were carried out many years ago by a local doctor. In addition to artifacts, in 1948, the researcher discovered human remains at the Reclau Viver site, which he interpreted as Cro-Magnon, but for a long time they were considered lost. And in 1972, in the Mollet III cave, he excavated a skull, the Paleolithic age of which was confirmed a little over ten years ago by the radiocarbon method.
Now, Joaquim Soler from the University of Girona, together with colleagues from Germany and Spain, reported that they have found most of the human remains and ancient artefacts excavated in the Reclau Viver cave in the Banyoles Archaeological Museum. In addition, archaeologists conducted new research in the Mollet III cave between 2013 and 2020 and found bones dating back to the same period as the skull.
Among the finds from the middle of the last century, scientists identified fragments of three femurs, a talus, calcaneus, metatarsal bones, a phalanx of a finger, fragments of a humerus and a lower jaw. For these finds, the researchers received two radiocarbon dates, which showed that the remains belonged to people who lived about 26.3–25.9 and 25.2–24.5 thousand years ago, that is, in the final Gravettian. Scientists discovered another ten skeletal elements in the Mollet III cave, the human skull of which is about 27–26.4 thousand years old. Among them: a fragment of the right and almost complete tibia, part of the femur, as well as small bones of the hands and feet. For the fragment of the tibia, they received another radiocarbon date, which indicated a slightly greater age than previously determined for the skull.
According to the researchers, both cases were intentional burials. Each of the caves contained the remains of at least two adult men, on some of whose bones the scientists noticed traces of ochre. In addition, the abundance of personal adornments found at these sites indicated that these were burials. Among other things, artifacts made of sea mollusk shells, 11 pendants made of lynx teeth, and objects made of red deer femurs were found in the Reklau-Weaver cave. At the Mollet-III site, the personal adornments mentioned by the researchers are represented by 12 pendants made of red deer teeth, as well as adornments made of mollusk shells.
The scientists concluded that their work had identified the remains of at least four adult males who lived during the final Gravettian. According to them, these are among the oldest anatomically modern human remains found in the northern Iberian Peninsula. Moreover, they are likely the oldest known examples of deliberate Cro-Magnons burials in the region.
Near these caves are other famous archaeological sites, such as the Arbreda Cave, where scientists recently reported finding the teeth of three Neanderthals, two of whom lived more than 120,000 years ago and one who lived between 71,000 and 44,000 years ago.
