9,500-Year-Old Baskets And 6,200-Year-Old Sandals Found In Spanish Cave
| September 28, 2023 |
Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - Scientists have discovered and analyzed the first direct evidence of basketry among hunter-gatherer societies and early farmers in southern Europe (9,500 and 6,200 years ago), in the Cueva de los Murciélagos of Albuñol (Granada, Spain).
This site is one of the most emblematic archaeological sites of prehistoric times in the Iberian Peninsula due to the unique preservation of organic materials found there.
- click for image -
https://tinyurl.com/ycx8px3w
Oldest Mesolithic baskets in southern Europe, 9,500 years old (left), and wooden mace and esparto sandals, dating back to the Neolithic 6,200 years ago (right). Credit: MUTERMUR Project
The work analyzes 76 objects made of organic materials (wood, reed and esparto) discovered during 19th century mining activities in the Granada cave. The researchers studied the raw materials and technology and carried out carbon-14 dating, which revealed that the set dates to the early and middle Holocene period, between 9,500 and 6,200 years ago.
This is the first direct evidence of basketry made by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies in southern Europe and a unique set of other organic tools associated with early Neolithic farming communities, such as sandals and a wooden mace.
More:
https://www.ancientpages.com/2023/09/28/baskets-sandals-in-spanish-cave/
= new reply since forum marked as read
so I shortened the URL of the article photo, hoping it would produce the image on my page, which failed.
The photo I attempted to get onto the posted page did appear in the article. It's the first one I've seen presented like that. Very confusing.
Thanks for taking the time. 
that would be recognizable at all!
The work involved in creating them looks very organized, and well done, which I wouldn't have expected to see. Clearly they knew exactly what they were doing and did it well.
Have to assume they were well protected where they were originally placed before being lost in time.
Thank you, Ziggysmom.
By Issy Ronald, CNN
Published 12:51 PM EDT, Fri September 29, 2023
CNN
—
New analysis has identified the oldest shoes ever discovered in Europe, according to a study published this week in the journal Science Advances.
The 22 woven sandals date from 6,000 years ago, radiocarbon analysis found in the study led by researchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Alcalá University in Spain.
The ancient footwear, along with Mesolithic baskets and other tools, was first discovered back in 1857, when a cave in southern Spain was looted by miners. However, when the artifacts were first dated, in the 1970s, they were identified as being about 1,000 years more recent than this latest analysis found.
The very dry conditions within the cave were ideal for preserving perishable materials, the researchers said, and allowed the preservation of a prehistoric burial site complete with partially mummified corpses, accompanied by baskets, wooden tools, sandals and other goods.
More:
https://us.cnn.com/style/article/6000-year-old-woven-sandals-spain-intl-scli-scn/index.html
