ANCIENT AFFRONT

Tourists Unknowingly Scrawled Graffiti Over Ice Age Treasure

The caves contain at least 280 ancient engravings.

Researchers believe tourists may have unwittingly defaced cave drawings, not realizing they were prehistoric treasures. A new study published this week details the astonishing discovery of at least 280 engravings dating back to the Paleolithic era in a cave in northeastern Spain. The space was first excavated in 1957, and thousands of people are believed to have visited and passed through it since. Many of those tourists left their own markings and likely didn’t realize they were disturbing Ice Age art, researchers say. The cave was shut to tourists in 2019 as part of an effort to prevent further damage to the relics. This week’s study in the journal Antiquity marks the most comprehensive catalog of its contents since that closure and found that the collection includes at least 55 different animal carvings, including deer, horses, and a bear. Researchers now speculate that while prehistoric rock carvings were originally considered rare in the region, more may be hidden in other caves that have yet to be explored.