Key takeaways:
- Researchers have found the oldest woven grass footwear in Europe, estimated to be up to 6,200 years old.
- The items were found in the 19th century at a hunter-gatherer burial site in the Cueva de los Murciélagos, near the southern city of Granada.
- The discovery of the objects is the first direct evidence of basketry among hunter-gatherer societies and early agrarian communities in southern Europe.
Archaeologists have made a remarkable discovery in a bat cave in southern Spain. Researchers have found what they believe to be the oldest woven grass footwear ever discovered in Europe, estimated to be up to 6,200 years old.
The items, which include baskets, tools and sandals, were found in the 19th century at a hunter-gatherer burial site in the Cueva de los Murciélagos, or “cave of the bats,” near the southern city of Granada.
A team of researchers from the Universidad de Alcalá and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona used radiocarbon dating to date the objects. The sandals were made from esparto, a kind of grass used in crafts across the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa for thousands of years.
The discovery of the objects is the first direct evidence of basketry among hunter-gatherer societies and early agrarian communities in southern Europe. The researchers say that the find has forced them to rethink “simplistic assumptions” about our human ancestors in the region.
The team is continuing to study the objects to learn more about the hunter-gatherer societies and early agrarian communities in southern Europe. The discovery of the sandals is a remarkable insight into the lives of our ancestors and the history of the region.
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