![]() ![]() The skulls, they argued, pointed to something beyond the simple detritus of hunting and gathering. As researchers slowly uncovered the layers inside, a startling picture of the cave began to emerge. ![]() While caves in the upper Lozoya Valley, about an hour's drive north of Madrid, had been known about since the 19th Century, the Des-Cubierta site was only found in 2009 during investigation of other cavities on the hillside. ![]() All were fragmented but their horns or antlers were relatively intact, and some were found near to traces of hearths. At the start of 2023 researchers announced that a Spanish archaeological site known as Cueva Des-Cubierta (a play on "uncover" and "discover") held an unusually large number of big-game skulls. This isn't the gory beginning of an ice age horror novel, but the setting for a fascinating Neanderthal mystery. Tiny fires were lit amidst a boulder-jumbled floor, and the flame-illuminated chamber echoed to dull pounding, cracking and squelching sounds as the skulls of bison, wild cattle, red deer and rhinoceros were smashed open. Sometime between 135,000-50,000 years ago, hands slick with animal blood carried more than 35 huge horned heads into a small, dark, winding cave. ![]()
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