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# Ancient human DNA extracted from cave walls in Spain and Portugal for the first time
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/so-sten-peshcher-v-ispanii-i-portugalii-vpervye-udalos-izvlech-drevniuiu-chelovecheskuiu-dnk/
- Published: 2026-06-25T09:41:11.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:25:46.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archaeology, Heritage, Science

Ancient human DNA has been extracted from cave walls in Spain and Portugal for the first time. Quite so: no bones, teeth or cultural layer were needed to obtain the DNA.

From 24 panels in 11 caves, 54 samples were taken, and 5 of them yielded human mitochondrial DNA. The source was a pigmented calcite crust from panel 11 in the Portuguese cave of Escoural, two samples from the walls of its deep gallery, and two next to the drawings in the Asturian cave of Covaron. Two of these samples contain no animal DNA. That is, the DNA reached the stone directly from a human being, with saliva or other secretions, through contact with the wall, and not together with the pigment made of ground ochre on animal fat.

True, the age is so far modest for a project studying the most ancient rock art: not the Palaeolithic, but at least 2,000 years. Yet what matters is the discovery of the principle itself, that the stone vaults of caves can preserve the genetic trace of those who touched them.

Until now, rock art could be linked to particular people only indirectly, on the basis of bones and tools found in the same caves. That did not allow us to establish unambiguously who exactly had run a hand over the stone. Now there is a chance, a hope, that it may become possible to find out who made rock images in places where no other traces of human presence exist. And the thesis is confirmed once more that the flow of tourists, and indeed of any superfluous people, to sites where rock art has been found must be limited.