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Date Published: 16/02/2023

ARCHIVED - Paleolithic Cathedral: 1st European evidence of elusive cave bears discovered in Cueva del Arco, Cieza

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The Cieza site is home to the fifth biggest cave in the Region of Murcia and hundreds of metres of unexplored vaults

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Paleolithic Cathedral: 1st European evidence of elusive cave bears discovered in Cueva del Arco, Cieza

Renowned Spanish scientists have this week begun to follow the trail of the cave bear through the hidden chambers of the Cueva del Arco in Cieza. Excavations of the site began back in 2015 but it’s only in recent years that researchers have realised the true enormity of the caverns, and Cieza is now believed to hold one of the five largest caves in the entire Region of Murcia.

Coined ‘The Paleolithic Cathedral’ due to the wealth of archaeological finds, the Cueva del Arco is a group of cavities concentrated in a large natural rock arch in the Almadenes Canyon, located in the town of Cieza. Evidence has already been discovered of Neolithic (7,000 years), Solutrean (21,000 years), Gravettian (30,000) and Mousterian (50,000) inhabitants, making this one of the few sites in the Mediterranean where the transition between Neanderthals and modern humans can be documented.

In 2018, University of Murcia professor Ignacio Martín Lerma found a small cavity filled with sediment that he suspected could lead to a larger underground structure. After months of painstaking excavation, his team broke through and made a truly remarkable discovery: an enormous series of vaults, some with ceilings up to 20 metres high, making them the tallest by far in the Region.

Its stalactite formations, reaching three metres in length and one centimetre in diameter, have few competitors anywhere in the world but the most exciting find was several 3-metre bear claw marks on the wall, from a species that many esteemed scientists believed was an urban myth.

For Professor Martín Lerma there is no doubt: "It is a cavity with great geological and archaeological interest, both for the formations and for the perfect conservation of everything it contains, which has been maintained thanks to the strict protocol that we have followed in its exploration."

To do this, it is necessary to prevent visits until all scientific studies are completed: "we must bear in mind that we have an intact natural treasure on our hands, and that is how it should continue to be."

"Due to the geological characteristics of the cave, we had been suspecting something like this could happen for some time, but it has exceeded all our expectations," he added.

You may also like: Recently excavated ancient Roman road opens to public in Cartagena

Images: Universidad de Murcia

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