Drones used to discover pre-historic cave paintings in Spain

Prehistoric paintings, which were present in hard-to-reach caves, were discovered by archaeologists in Spain in the east of the country with the use of drone technology.

With the help of drones, researchers were able to gather evidence of never-before-seen cave paintings which date back to 5,000- 7,500 years ago, as per a statement issued by a team at the University of Alicante, Spain. The findings of the archaeologists were published last month in the Spanish scientific journal Lucentum.

The project made it easy to inspect the areas which could otherwise be reached only by “opening complex access routes climbing,” read the statement.

The team stated that they were able to find their first results in just a few days after they started flying the drones in a quarry in the Penàguila municipality in Alicante.

“This area is well known for housing numerous groups with prehistoric art,” stated lead author Francisco Javier Molina Hernández, who is also an archaeologist at the University of Alicante, in the statement.

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“The result was the discovery of a new site with prehistoric cave paintings of different styles, which we believe will be very relevant for the investigation," he added.

The site was then visited by the climbers and its existence was verified by a huge number of painted figures in different styles, which includes stylised human figures and animals such as goats and deer which appeared to have suffered injuries by arrows, as per the statement.

Hernandez, whom the Spanish press has christened as “Indiana Drones”, worked with two other archaeologists, Ximo Martorell Briz and Virginia Barciela, who were part of the research.

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Researchers decided to use drones because “on many occasions, we have risked our lives to access cavities located in rugged geographical areas,” Molina said while speaking to CNN.

“Many other caves have never been inspected because they are located in inaccessible areas,” he stated.

The researchers stated that the finding is among the most significant Neolithic rock art sites which have been discovered in recent decades in the Valencia region, due to the large number of figures observed.

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“Secondly, the discovery of new cave paintings in this type of cave indicates that prehistoric man developed sophisticated means of climbing, perhaps by means of ropes or wooden scaffolding,” Molina said.

"They may have taken these risks to reach certain caves due to their relation to the sunrise or visual control of certain territory," he stated.

"Next up, the team plans to use more powerful drones to take higher quality images and expand their research to other areas of Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe," Molina stated.

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