The cave of Nerja

The cave in Nerja was incidentally discovered by a group of playing children in 1959. A few weeks later scientists started explore the dripstone cave. They found out that the cave has a length of about five kilometre. Moreover they found numerous remains from the Neolithic period, such as ceramics, bones and stone tools. Some of these objects can be found in the museum in Nerja. Researchers suspect that the cave was populated by humans between 30.000 and 1.800 before Christ. Particularly interesting are 42.000 year old wall paintings within the cave. It is assumed that these pictures could be the first art works of humanity wich are known by science. Therefore in 1961 the cave was protected as a historical art monument. In 1985 it was declared to as unique cultural interest and in 2005 it received the status cultural property with archaeological area. (Editor/Photos/Video: mit – Source: Cueva de Nerja)