La grotte de Nerja aujourd’hui

Abstract

The latest results of the Interdisciplinary Research Project from Cueva de Nerja (Malaga, Spain) are presented here. The cavity in question has quite extensive underground volumes that are several kilometres in length. There are stratigraphic columns with practically all stages of Prehistory, from the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic to the Chalcolithic.The project pursues the comprehensive study of the karst, with an underground archaeological approach, as the subject of historical analysis is an anthropized cave. Three fundamental disciplines are involved in the analysis: Geology, Biology and Archaeology, providing information on the continent and its content. In this way, the historical inferences go beyond the artistic activity itself, being able to learn from other functions that complement it, overlap, destroy, etc.All the rocky surfaces of Cueva de Nerja have been inspected with the help of new lighting, reading and recording technologies, the results of which have considerably expanded the catalogue of prehistoric cave works.In this new catalogue of prehistoric graphic items, two types of indistinct red stains have been distinguished, some intentionally applied and others involuntary as a result of friction between people in small spaces. Regarding the dating of cave paintings, a set of black lines made of coniferous charcoal as well as the calcite below and above the image have been dated by C14-AMS, with coherent results according to the parietal stratigraphy. On the other hand, a pioneering dating system has been developed using U/Th and C-14 data from the same calcite sample, with similarly consistent results.The systematic surface survey of the walls and surfaces of the cave has revealed numerous archaeological remains of activities outside of the making of art.

Keywords

• interdisciplinary project
• cave paintings
• dating
• internal archaeological context
• lighting.