Summer arrives, bringing with it the season for excavation campaigns. This is the case of the archaeological site of the Cova de les Teixoneres, part of the Toll Caves system, located in Moià (Barcelona, Spain). Each year, a multidisciplinary team of about 20 people gathers to carry out the excavation campaign at this Neanderthal site. Through a slow and meticulous process, remains are obtained that will allow us to better understand the behavior of these humans.
As in many cases, the archaeological value of this set of caves was discovered by chance. At the end of the 1940s, a group of hikers found well-preserved Neolithic ceramic remains. Although some interventions took place from the 1950s onwards, these excavations were intermittent. In 2003, systematic excavations began under the direction of IPHES (Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social), which have been repeated every year to date. This summer's excavation campaign, lasting approximately one month, will certainly yield numerous animal bone remains and stone tools. With a bit of luck, perhaps some human remains as well.
If time travel were a reality, we would set our time machine to 50,000 years ago and could meet the Neanderthals who regularly visited this cave. These human groups used the cave as a temporary camp from 200,000 years ago until 35,000 years ago, around the time of the Neanderthal extinction. However, humans were not the only inhabitants of the cave. Some carnivores, such as hyenas, often used this cave as a den. Therefore, human and carnivore occupations alternated over time. Nevertheless, there are significant spatial differences. While carnivores preferred darker and deeper parts of the cave, humans chose areas closer to the entrance where they could take advantage of natural light for their daily activities.
At that time during the Pleistocene1, the landscape around the cave would have been very different from today's, with a much colder global climate. Both the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian Range acted as biogeographical barriers, making the Iberian Peninsula an ideal climatic refuge for animal species not adapted to such cold climates. Around us we would see animals like mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses, temperate climate animals like roe deer, and highly adaptable animals like red deer, horses, goats, aurochs, chamois, and wild boar.
Thanks to the excavation campaigns that have been carried out since 2003, we can learn about the lifestyle of these Neanderthal groups and their relationship with the environment. A team of around 20 people from various academic backgrounds is responsible for carrying out the excavations every summer. Over the years, thousands of remains associated with human activities have been recovered. On one hand, there are animal bone fragments processed by Neanderthals, which often show cut marks. These characteristics indicate the defleshing of animal pieces and the fracturing of bones to access marrow. Even bones that were in contact with fire have been found. Currently, research is being conducted to determine what activities related to the use of fire were carried out by Neanderthals.
On the other hand, lithic tools or their remains are recovered, which tell us about the materials used by human groups visiting this cave and how they were configured. Regarding human bone remains, we highlight the findings made in 2016 and 2017 campaigns. These include four teeth, morphologically associated with Neanderthals. Three of these teeth belong to children aged four to six years old, while the fourth piece belonged to an elderly adult. The discovery of human remains in a campsite context is not common, so such findings are always very relevant.
Conclusions
To conclude, it is essential to emphasize the importance of this archaeological site within research on human evolution. Future studies on materials recovered so far and those yet to be discovered will help create a more complete picture and expand knowledge about prehistoric human groups. Additionally, guided tours are offered at this complex archaeological site to bring these investigations closer to the general public. From ArqueoTimes, we encourage our readers to enjoy the cultural offerings presented by such activities.
Bibliography
Álvarez-Lao, D. J., Rivals, F., Sánchez-Hernández, C., Blasco, R., & Rosell, J. (2017). Ungulates from Teixoneres Cave (Moià, Barcelona, Spain): Presence of cold-adapted elements in NE Iberia during the MIS 3. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 466, 287-302.
Rosell, J., Blasco, R., Rivals, F., Chacón, M. G., Menéndez, L., Morales, J. I., ... & Serrat, D. (2010). A stop along the way: The role of Neanderthal groups at level III of Teixoneres Cave (Moià, Barcelona, Spain). Quaternaire. Revue de l'Association française pour l'étude du Quaternaire, 21(2), 139-154.
Rosell, J., Blasco, R., Rivals, F., Chacón, M. G., Arilla, M., Camarós, E., ... & Cebria, A. (2017). A resilient landscape at Teixoneres Cave (MIS 3; Moià, Barcelona, Spain): The Neanderthals as disrupting agent. Quaternary International, 435, 195-210.
Sánchez-Hernández, C., Rivals, F., Blasco, R., & Rosell, J. (2014). Short, but repeated Neanderthal visits to Teixoneres Cave (MIS 3, Barcelona, Spain): A combined analysis of tooth microwear patterns and seasonality. Journal of Archaeological Science, 49, 317-325.
Zilio, L., Hammond, H., Karampaglidis, T., Sánchez-Romero, L., Blasco, R., Rivals, F., Rufà, A., Picin, A., Chacón, M. G., Demuro, M., Arnold, L. J., Rosell, J., 2021. Examining Neanderthal and carnivore occupations of Teixoneres Cave (Moià, Barcelona, Spain) using archaeostratigraphic and intra-site spatial analysis. Scientific Reports 11, 4339.
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