It is confirmed that the Neanderthals frequented the cave of San Adrian

2025/07/17 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Arkeologia

Two years ago, the Aranzadi Science Society found in the cave of San Adrian some stone tools made by the Neanderthals and bones of animals eaten by them. This is how the Neanderthals discovered that they used this cave 40,000 years ago. During their excavation campaign this year they confirmed that the Neanderthals were there, and they also saw that they were frequent.

During the fifteen days of July, a group of about ten volunteers and archaeologists has been excavating two very deep surveys, each almost 3 meters high, in order to find prehistoric remains. The first survey found pieces dating back 14,000 years (the Madeleine period) of sapiens. In the second, they reach very old levels and find pieces of Neanderthals.

Archaeologists say that the results of this excavation have been very positive. It is clarified that the materials found show that the Neanderthals did not pass through the cave from time to time, but used it frequently during the warmer phase of the last glaciation, about 41,000 years ago.

Among the traces found, several types of stones have been identified that have been used to carve cutting tools. On the other hand, they have seen the use of silexas brought from Urbasa, Treviño and Flysch. This means that the Neanderthals took San Adrian as a strategic step for their journeys across the vast territory.

In addition to stone remains, fragments of animal bones have also been found, both pieces killed and consumed by the Neanderthals, but also remains of other carnivores who lived in the cave, such as bears. For this reason, they must distinguish well between the bones that correspond to the prey captured by the Neanderthals and those that were carried by the carnivores, taking into account the fractures and marks observed in each bone.

In the layers where these occupations occurred, more and more ruins appear, and for the next campaigns they hope to recover a broader set of evidence that can interpret the activities carried out by the Neanderthals in San Adrian.