Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 4 hrs ago
280 prehistoric engravings discovered in a popular Spanish cave
Archaeologists found 280 prehistoric engravings in a side gallery at Cova de la Font Major, a cave in Catalonia, Spain.
Josep Maria Vergès noticed them in 2019 while checking a gallery where tourists had left modern names and dates on the walls.
The engravings include 55 animal figures, as well as lines and geometric shapes; some show horses, deer, bovids and a bear.
Researchers say the art is likely more than 19,000 years old, though its exact age is difficult to establish.
The cave had drawn visitors and researchers for years, but the engravings were missed because they were hard to see among the graffiti and needed angled light to stand out.
The discovery fills a gap in knowledge of Palaeolithic art in western Europe, and researchers say a deer engraving may depict an animal drinking from water.
The exact date remains uncertain, and the team has not determined what the non-figurative signs mean.
Researchers identified 280 prehistoric engraved motifs in a cave in Catalonia, Spain.
The engravings include 55 animal figures, such as horses, deer and bovids.
The art is likely more than 19,000 years old and dates to the Upper Paleolithic, although its exact age is uncertain.
Archaeologist Josep Maria Vergès noticed the engravings in 2019 while examining a side gallery.
The cave is a popular tourist attraction, and the engravings had gone unnoticed among more recent graffiti.
- Who
- Archaeologists Josep Maria Vergès and Míriam Salas-Altès and their team identified the engravings.
- What
- They found 280 engraved motifs, including 55 animal figures.
- When
- Vergès noticed them in 2019. The findings were published on November 5, 2026.
- Where
- Cova de la Font Major in Catalonia, Spain.
- Why
- Vergès checked a side gallery after a group of tourists in wetsuits emerged from a nearby opening.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Vergès noticed ancient-looking lines while examining a side gallery at Cova de la Font Major.
Vergès and Salas-Altès investigated the engravings and identified 280 motifs.
The team’s findings were published in Antiquity.
- Cave
- Cova de la Font Major, Catalonia, Spain
- Total motifs
- 280
- Animal figures
- 55, including horses, deer and bovids
- Likely age
- More than 19,000 years old
- Discovery
- Josep Maria Vergès, 2019
2 sources
What people are saying
Almost immediately, among the modern graffiti, I noticed a series of vertical lines that appeared ancient.
If this hypothesis is correct, the scene would constitute one of the earliest known representations of water in human artistic expression.
It is exciting that new discoveries at long-visited sites are revealing ancient evidence of a very early painting tradition.
At the moment of discovery, I [Vergès] experienced a mixture of excitement at encountering something both unexpected and extraordinary and profound disbelief.