A new study led by the University of South Florida in the US has revealed new information about humans in the Western Mediterranean, with researchers finding that our ancestors settled there much earlier than previously thought.
This research, detailed in a recent issue of the journal Communications Earth & Environmentchallenges old assumptions and bridges the gap between island colonization calendars across the Mediterranean region.
Reconstructing early human colonization of Mediterranean islands is challenging due to limited archaeological evidence.
By studying a submerged bridge, an interdisciplinary research team—led by USF geology professor Bogdan Onac—was able to provide compelling evidence of past human activity inside Genovesa Cave, located on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
“The presence of this sunken bridge and other artifacts indicates a sophisticated level of activity, implying that early settlers recognized the cave’s water resources and strategically built infrastructure to navigate them,” Onac said, according to EurekAlert.
Mallorca, among the last islands to be colonized
The cave, located near the coast of Mallorca, has passages now flooded due to sea level rise, with distinct calcite incrustations that form during periods of high sea level.
These formations, along with a light-colored band from the sunken bridge, serve as proxies to accurately track historical sea-level changes and date the bridge’s construction.
Mallorca, although it is the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean, was among the last to be colonized. Previous research has suggested human presence as far back as 9,000 years ago, but inconsistencies and poor preservation of radiocarbon-dated materials such as nearby bones and pottery have cast doubt on these findings.
A bridge built 6,000 years ago
More recent studies have used the charcoal, ash and bones found on the island to create a timeline of human settlement around 4,400 years ago. This aligns the chronology of human presence with significant environmental events, such as the extinction of the goat-antelope genus Myotragus balearicus.
By analyzing mineral outgrowths on the bridge and the height of a staining band on the bridge, Onac and team found that the bridge was built almost 6,000 years ago, more than two thousand years older than the previous estimate – narrowing the chronological gap between the eastern and western Mediterranean settlements
This research was carried out in collaboration with Harvard University, the University of New Mexico and the University of the Balearic Islands.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
