Mesolithic basketry discovery highlights the cultural complexity of hunter-gatherer communities

Researchers describe the oldest and most well-preserved esparto-based woven baskets made by hunter-gatherers around 9,500 to 6,200 years ago.

Mesolithic baskets
From left to right: the oldest and most well-preserved examples of plant-based basketry from the Mesolithic, along with a wooden hammer and sandals.

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and Universidad de Alcalá in Spain rediscover and detail the first direct piece of evidence of Mesolithic basketry along with other tools connected to farming communities of the early Neolithic (including a wooden mace and sandals). The research findings were published in the journal, Science Advances.

Raw material analysis

Researchers have identified the oldest recorded evidence of basketry from the cave system of the Cueva de los Murciélagos of Albuñol, located on the Granadin coast of Spain.

This recent discovery was made possible through the analysis of a total of 76 pieces of organic materials, originally sourced from the Granada Cave during mining activities undertaken in the 19th Century.

The material remains were comprised of reed, wood, and esparto—referring to a material made up of two species of needlegrasses indigenous to Northern Africa and Southern Spain. The researchers employed a technique known as carbon-14 dating to determine the age of the materials, using the presence of carbon-14 and a comparative reference standard.

The team found that the objects date back to the early to mid-Holocene epoch—a time in Earth’s history spanning the last 11,700 years. The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age is a period of early human sociocultural evolution that took place during the beginning of the Holocene. The Mesolithic period is characterised by the presence of nomadic hunter-gatherers.

stone age
The people of the Middle Stone Age were hunter-gatherers and traveled long distances in search of shelter and to hunt down prey.

The Cueva de los Murciélagos is located within the heart of the Cañada de Malos Vientos, a 1,000m-high mountain. The site has proven a haven for archaeologists, revealing Paleolithic tombs and finds from the Neolithic period.

The present Mesolithic finds yielded the most well-preserved plant-based materials to date. The nature of the esparto-based baskets in question highlights the prowess of early human craftsmanship. Such basketry points toward the advancement of technological and cultural complexity concerning Mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities in Southern Europe.

“Only one type of technique related to hunter-gatherers has been identified, while the typological, technological, and treatment range of esparto grass was extended during the Neolithic from 7,200 to 6,200 years before the present", says María Herrero Otal, study co-author and researcher at the UAB.