Cueva de Bolomor, or Bolomor Cave, is an archaeological site near
Tavernes de la Valldigna
Tavernes de la Valldigna (, es, Tavernes de la Valldigna) is a municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain, located in the district of Safor, 54 km far away from Valencia. It is the biggest town in La Valldigna, a horseshoe shape valley ...
in the
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...
, Spain. It was occupied over a long period of time, between 350,000 and 120,000 years ago.
Four
Neanderthal
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...
remains have been recovered in excavations that were begun in 1989: a fragment of a
fibula
The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity i ...
, two teeth, and a nearly complete
parietal bone
The parietal bones () are two bones in the skull which, when joined at a fibrous joint, form the sides and roof of the cranium. In humans, each bone is roughly quadrilateral in form, and has two surfaces, four borders, and four angles. It is nam ...
from an adult. All date from the late
Middle/
early Late Pleistocene. The thickness of the
cortical bone
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, and ...
in the fibula indicates it came from non-modern man.
Description
The cave is located in the
La Valldigna valley, which is demarcated by the ''Les Creus'' mountain range to the north, whose highly eroded reliefs slope towards the valley, and the ''Mondúver'' range to the south. The valley is covered by sediments from the
Quaternary period, and opens in the east to a marshy landscape with dunes, which connects to the coastal Mediterranean plain. The Cueva de Bolomor is on the right side of a cliff; it is a
karst cave at above sea
level, surrounded by karstified hills.
The cave today is more a
rock shelter, of about in length and wide, and deep with an irregular interior. Formerly, it was a much wider cave, before its dome fell in (probably due to seismic activity). Today's mouth of the cave overhangs the valley and offers a view of the coastal area, including the town of
Cullera
Cullera () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Valencian Community. It is part of the province of Valencia and the Ribera Baixa ''comarca''. The city is situated near the discharge of the river Júcar in the Mediterranean Sea.
Ge ...
.
Occupation and remains
Archaeologists recognize a
stratigraphy of 17 layers, dated between 350 and 121,000 years ago. Three main periods of occupation are recognized: 350,000 years ago, 200,000 to 150,000 years ago, and 120,000 years ago. Human occupants ate a wide variety of animals, including
ungulate
Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, ...
s of all sizes, besides
tortoise
Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a turtle shell, shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, ...
s and birds. Throughout the occupation, they ate young
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...
s. A relative rarity for the Middle Pleistocene is the frequency with which the remains of rabbits, marked with cuts, are found; such small, quick prey is unusual for the period, and is most likely a specific feature of a unique locality.
Any prey, including young elephants, would have had to be carried up the steep slope. Flake production dominated the flint technology, fire was habitually used, and there was lithic recycling; the
Levallois technique
The Levallois technique () is a name given by archaeologists to a distinctive type of stone knapping developed around 250,000 to 300,000 years ago during the Middle Palaeolithic period. It is part of the Mousterian stone tool industry, and was ...
was not often used, and no handaxes were found. It is postulated that the site represents a transition from an
Acheulean
Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French ''acheuléen'' after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated ...
to a post-Acheulean mode of living, which may have taken place between
Marine Isotope Stages 9 and 7. Bolomor is one of "numerous European sites
hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
attest new technological behavior oriented toward long and complex knapping methods, with long and complex repetitive core reduction, predetermined flake shape, and tool standardization". Layers with
scrapers and
denticulate tool
In archaeology, a denticulate tool is a stone tool containing one or more edges that are worked into multiple notched shapes (or teeth), much like the toothed edge of a saw. Such tools have been used as saws for woodworking, processing meat and ...
s alternate. Fifteen hearths, in age ranging between 250,000 and 100,000 years old, are being studied. Some of the hearths were lined with stone.
History of the research
The site has been excavated annually since 1989, during a 30-day period. Research is supported by the Prehistoric Investigation Service of the Valencian Council, and the material deposited in the
Prehistory Museum of Valencia.
See also
*
List of Neanderthal sites
This is a list of archeological sites where remains or tools of Neanderthals were found.
Europe
Belgium
* Schmerling Caves, Engis
* Naulette
* Scladina
* Spy-sur-l'Orneau
* Veldwezelt-Hezerwater
France
* Vaucluse, Bau de l'Aubesier
* Biache- ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
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{{Authority control
Neanderthal sites
Prehistoric sites in Spain
Province of Valencia
Caves of Spain
Archaeological sites in the Valencian Community