Organic Residues on Prehistoric Plant Artefacts: A Case Study from Cueva de los Murciélagos, Andalusia, Spain

World Archaeological Congress. WAC-10

Darwin. Australia
Conference. 2025

Despite their rarity, prehistoric plant-fibre and wooden artefacts offer insights into past technologies and funerary practices. La Cueva de los Murciélagos (Albuñol, Granada, Spain) is a key site for Late Prehistory, renowned for its exceptional preservation of desiccated organic materials due to microclimatic conditions. The site, disturbed by 19th-century miners, revealed human remains from at least 68

individuals alongside basketry and wooden objects. Latest research has located their deposition within occupations from the Late Mesolithic to Bronze Age.

Several artefacts presented residues of food deposits or adhesives. To investigate their function in the funerary context, we conducted FTIR-ATR, lipid, and protein analyses. Results revealed complex residues: birch bark tar on arrow shafts (functional or decoration), a fat-resin mixture in baskets (waterproofing or ritual offerings), and degraded food traces on wooden utensils. A Bronze Age bowl,

repaired with a fat-resin adhesive, attested to reuse practices. While lipids were well-preserved, proteins were undetectable, emphasising methodological

limitations in residue from plant-fibre artefacts.

Modern contamination was also identified.

These results provide new insights into the funerary

behaviours and technological practices of prehistoric

communities in southeastern Iberia, while

highlighting the challenges and limitations of multimethod

residue analysis of plant artefacts.