In the El Buxu cave in Spain, archaeologists have found traces of a primitive glue that was used to make tools and hunting weapons. Scientists say the substance was used more than 20,000 years ago.

El Buxu Cave is a natural depression in the rock that is located in Asturias, northern Spain. In the past, traces of the presence of Solutrean and Magdalenian cultures, categorized as Stone Age, were found there. The cave's walls were adorned with paintings portraying various animals like horses and deer, alongside enigmatic geometric symbols referred to as "tectiformes" whose significance remains a mystery.

Some theories assume that these were primitive hunting traps. Similar figures have also been found in other Spanish caves, as well as in the French cave of Bernifal, in the Meyrals commune.

Traces of glue from 20,000 years ago have been found in a Spanish cave

A fang of an extinct cave bear was also discovered in El Buxu, with an image of a bird carved on it. It was probably an item associated with the worship of prehistoric gods and was used as a neck pendant. Today the item is housed in the Archaeological Museum of Asturias.

During the latest research, archaeologists decided to analyze the tools and arrowheads, which dated back some 20,000 years. It turned out that they bore traces of a substance that may have been one of the oldest adhesives in history.

Researchers from two Madrid universities participated in the study: Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia and the Autonomous University of Madrid. The discovery was reported in the scientific journal Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. The researchers say the glue was used to attach stone arrowheads to wooden arrow rays.

Prehistoric hunters used a natural binder to create arrows

It was already known that the cave was a seasonal refuge for hunters from the Solutrean culture, who hunted red deer (Cervus elaphus) and Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica, an extinct subspecies of Pyrenean goatsucker, during the spring season. Paleontological studies have shown that prehistoric hunters also preyed on northern chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra).

Scientists were aware that objects from several dozen and tens of thousands of years ago are highly susceptible to degradation. Therefore, non-invasive methods were used during the study. The scientists performed FT-IR microspectroscopy and resonance Raman spectroscopy. The researchers found that Paleolithic hunters created an adhesive substance by mixing pine resin with beeswax. In this way, they attached spearheads to wood.

"Pine resin itself is a very strong adhesive, but it would have been too fragile a glue, given that it had to bond two materials to make a strong weapon. That's why it was mixed with beeswax to achieve the desired effect." — says Prof. Francisco Javier Muñoz of UNED. The archaeologist adds that this is probably the oldest example of prehistoric man's use of glue.

Solutrean culture: interesting facts

The Solutrean culture developed in the Iberian Peninsula and France between 21,000 and 18,000 years ago. Its name comes from the French village of Solutré-Pouilly, where the first traces of these communities were found. These were the people who produced stone blades such as leaf blades, back chips and laurel blades. Historians say they were characterized by exceptional hunting skills and hunted a variety of animals.

Interestingly, one hypothesis (the so-called Solutrean hypothesis) assumes that representatives of the Solutrean culture could have reached North America. They would have done this by sailing westward across the Atlantic Ocean along the front of the ice sheet that covered part of the Northern Hemisphere during the last glaciation.

This is a theory that stands in contrast to the explanation that assumes that humans entered the American continent from Asia via the Bering Strait. However, scientists suggest that the two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive. In fact, America may have been settled by people from both Europe and Asia.

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