Tom Metcalfe is a freelance journalist and regular Live Science contributor who is based in London in the United Kingdom. Tom writes mainly about science, space, archaeology, the Earth and the oceans. He has also written for the BBC, NBC News, National Geographic, Scientific American, Air & Space, and many others.
Starting about 7,000 years ago, ancient humans in what is now northeastern Spain buried their dead deep in a cave, creating a necropolis of sorts that spans about four millennia and now contains more than 7,000 bones, according to archaeologists. And there are signs it may have been used for tens of thousands of years before that.
Grave goods were especially abundant during the Bronze Age, when some individuals were buried with rich collections of weapons and other items, Rodríguez-Hidalgo said. This is the only trepanated skull found in Cova dels Xaragalls so far, but more than 100 trepanation scars have been found on other prehistoric skulls from Spain, he said.
Image 1 of 2"This opens the possibility that Neanderthals could have used the cave as well," Rodríguez-Hidalgo said."This is something to confirm."
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