New dating of Spain's Sala Keimada rock art sanctuary reveals thousands of years of continuous use

New dating of Spain's Sala Keimada rock art sanctuary reveals thousands of years of continuous use Gaby Clark Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor The Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) has participated in a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports on Sala Keimada, one of the rock art sanctuaries in Cueva Palomera, the main cave of the Ojo Guareña Karst Complex (Merindad de Sotoscueva, Burgos, Spain). Led by Ana Isabel Ortega Martínez, from the Royal Burgos Academy of History and Fine Arts—Fernán González Institution, the study presents 18 previously unpublished dates indicating that the chamber remained in use from around 13,500 years ago to more than 2,000 years ago. The site, discovered in 1976 by the Edelweiss Speleological Group, was mentioned in several popular publications in 1986 and 2013. However, it had remained unpublished in the scientific literature because of the difficulty of access, which requires visitors to crawl through a narrow passage, and the lack of dates allowing it to be placed within a chronological framework. As a result, most specialists focused almost exclusively on Sala de las Pinturas, opposite Sala Keimada. The main panel of black geometric motifs, closely resembling the triangular figures in Sala de las Pinturas, has been dated to around 13,500 years ago, at the end of the Upper Paleolithic. The chamber contains numerous engravings on walls and low ceilings, most created by dragging fingertips across the clay film covering the rock surface, although fine incised and striated engravings are also present. Several engravings are overlain by charcoal traces left by torches, providing minimum dates that confirm an Upper Paleolithic age for some of them, while others may belong to later prehistoric periods, including the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. A zoomorphic head engraving associated with a black outline has been dated to around 7,500 years ago, during the Early Neolithic. Pits excavated with wooden sticks preserve wood remains dated between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, while the only clearly identified hearth dates to the Chalcolithic. One of the most significant discoveries is a complex structure built from two large limestone slabs placed upright and supported against one another, reinforced by smaller stones. The main slab, measuring 1.5 meters (5 feet) in length, has a carefully shaped upper edge that creates a pointed profile resembling an animal figure facing the main panel of paintings. "Both this slab and some of the stones supporting it preserve engravings and charcoal marks that attest to intense human activity around the structure. In terms of its characteristics, it closely resembles another Paleolithic slab documented in Tito Bustillo Cave (Ribadesella, Asturias), although it is larger," Ortega Martínez explains. The study also documents the remains of a young domestic pig, approximately 3 months old, deposited in one of the small natural calcite pools located in the center of the chamber, next to a distinctive quadrangular formation of apparently human origin. The date obtained for these remains corresponds to the period immediately preceding the Roman conquest of the region following the Cantabrian Wars, suggesting that they may be related to one of the last ritual activities carried out in the sanctuary. This interpretation is reinforced by the symbolic importance of pigs and wild boar in Iron Age offering practices. Publication details Ana Isabel Ortega-Martínez et al, Sala Keimada: another Palaeolithic sanctuary in Cueva Palomera at Ojo Guareña (Burgos, Spain), Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105818 Journal information: Journal of Archaeological Science