Human occupation of a cave confirmed during the Roman Empire and long before

The cave is called “Cova de l’Home Mort” (Dead Man’s Cave) and is located in the town of Soriguera (Pallars Sobirà, Lérida, Catalonia).

This year’s excavation campaign carried out in the cave by archaeologists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has brought to light remains of Roman pottery from the end of the Roman Empire (5th century AD), as well as a unique bronze arrowhead more than 3,500 years old. Fragments of pottery dating from the end of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (between 5,000 and 4,500 years ago) have also been extracted, which indicates that the cave was occupied at various times and makes it a key archaeological site for understanding human occupation of the High Pyrenees over thousands of years.

The archaeologists who carried out the study, from the High Mountain Archaeology Group (GAAM), made up of researchers from the UAB and the CSIC, underline the importance of the new discoveries.

On the one hand, the discovery of Roman ceramics, some of North African origin, is noteworthy. This discovery confirms that the Cova de l’Home Mort, in addition to the Bronze Age, was home to human occupations at the end of the Roman Empire (5th century AD) and “consolidates the data of recent years, which indicate that the valleys of Pallars Sobirà were not left out of the historical dynamics in Roman times, as had traditionally been suggested on several occasions,” says Ermengol Gassiot, from the Department of Prehistory at the UAB and director of GAAM.

On the other hand, numerous human remains and objects associated with the Bronze Age, dating back between 3,500 and 3,600 years, have been collected. Among the objects discovered, there is a large and diverse ceramic production, as well as unique objects, among which a bronze arrowhead stands out. “This is a very valuable object for the Pyrenean archaeological heritage, given the scarcity of similar pieces that have been found until now,” the researchers explain.

As for the human remains, “an initial assessment shows a high presence of bones from children, although there are also records of those from older people,” explains Xavier Sánchez, an archaeologist from Pallars Sobirà and member of GAAM, who is also the coordinator of this year’s campaign.

The Cova de l’Home Mort is a cave with two galleries located in the Pyrenees, at an altitude of 1,180 metres. This year’s discoveries have been made in the entire Gallery 1, the same one where the site was first documented in 2008 and where several human remains were extracted that in 2017 were dated to between 3,500 and 3,600 years old. The number of human fragments recovered so far is typical of the sepulchral character that the cave must have had for at least 125 years.

Fragments of pottery from the end of the Roman Empire (5th century AD) and an arrowhead from the Bronze Age (between 3,500 and 3,600 years ago) found during this year’s excavation campaign in the Cova de l’Home Mort (Dead Man’s Cave), in Soriguera. (Images: GAAM / UAB. CC BY-NC 4.0)

To date, the Bronze Age human remains documented and dated in the Cova de l’Home Mort are among the oldest found in the western Pyrenees of Catalonia and are dated to the same date as those found in the Montanissell burial cave in the municipality of Coll de Nargó (Alt Urgell, known as the Lady of the Mountains). Their study should contribute to understanding the living conditions of human populations in the Pyrenean mountain and high mountain areas in a period in which the consolidation of human impact on high mountain environments is documented.

However, the study of human occupation of the cave could extend the time range of this occupation, because this year’s work has also provided archaeological remains that, due to their characteristics, seem to come from the end of the Neolithic or Chalcolithic, between 5,000 and 4,500 years ago, among which are remains of Bell Beaker pottery. “While we await the development of the research, this fact confirms an archaeological sequence that covers several thousand years. This makes it a reference site for the study of human presence in the mountain areas of the Pyrenees during the last 5 millennia,” highlights Ermengol Gassiot.

The research carried out this year has included the participation of students from the UAB’s Archaeology degree. (Source: UAB. CC BY-NC 4.0)