6,400 year-old burials found in Spanish cave

Excavations in Can Sadurní cave (Begues, Barcelona) have discovered four human skeletons dated at about 6,400 years ago which were buried following an unknown ritual in the Iberian Peninsula. Few caves have necropolis dated at such an ancient period: the beginning of Middle Neolithic.

In the case of the remains which have just been found, a light landslide from the outer part took place when corpses were quite complete or they had just began the decomposition process; it protected corpses, so they have remained in the position in which they were buried [Credit: University of Barcelona]

In addition, remains are particularly important as they are nearly complete. In fact, a campaign carried out previously identified some buried bodies, which were not so well preserved but belong to the same sepulchral layer, and the most ancient European remains of beer consumption. Excavations at Can Sadurní are carried out by Col·lectiu per la Investigació de la Prehistòria i l’Arqueologia del Garraf-Ordal (CIPAG), together with the Seminar of Studies and Prehistoric Research (SERP) of the UB.

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