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Date Published: 23/09/2021
ARCHIVED - 20,000-year-old butchers discovered in Cieza
An excavation in the Region of Murcia revealed animal bone fragments from the Palaeolithic Age
Recent excavations in the Cueva del Arco archaeological site in Cieza have revealed what experts believe is a Palaeolithic butcher’s dating back 20,000 years.
Investigators from the University of Murcia have discovered a large quantity of animal bone fragments from horses, deer, goats and rabbits in an exceptional state of conservation.
The fragments were found to have incision marks from flint tools, which led investigators to believe that the area could have been used as a butcher’s area, where the inhabitants from that era separated animal skin and meat from the bones and then fractured the larges ones to extract the bone marrow.
The animal remains were found behind a line of bonfires discovered in a previous excavation on the site, indicating that the inhabitants cooked and ate near the fires, then threw the bone fragments to the back of the cave.
Cueva del Arco is an important historic site located in the Almadenes Canyon which has had a long line of occupants throughout history, from the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age. The first occupants were the Neanderthals (around 50,000 years ago) and the Cueva del Arco ceased to be used as a habitat with the arrival of the first Neolithic farmers and ranchers, approximately 6,000 years ago.
Click here for more information about the historic town of Cieza.
Image: Ayuntamiento de Cieza
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