Archeological site which belongs to Early Neolithic. It is not far from Valencia. It should be noted that paleoanthropologists found some corpses there; one of them with a trepanation in the skull.

1. COVA DE LA
SARSA
By Salvador Fuentes Lucas-Torres. 2푛푑 of Bachillerato,
group B

2. LOCATION
It is located in the municipal territory of
Bocairent, Alicante, 8 km from the village.
It is 895 metres above sea level.
It is in a mountainside, specifically in the
north slope of a mountain range of the
Iberian System, Sierra de Mariola.

3. INFORMATION OF INTEREST
• Archaeologists have discovered a double
burial.
• Ten corpses were identified during the
excavations. All were adults except one child
(he/she was between 2 and 4 years old when
he/she died).
• The grave goods date to 8,000 years (Early
Neolithic).
Entrance Foyer

4. CAVE

5. HUMAN FOSSILS
Scientists have identified:
• Dental pathologies: dental losses are
frequent.
• Vertebral osteoarthritis: it’s frequent
in old people or people who have
been submitted to heavy workloads.
• A head injury: it has been found in
the skull of a woman. The cause was
probably a hit of a sharp object. The
woman didn’t die because the injury
is almost healed.
• A trepanation in the child skull:
trepanation has been used with
medical or mystic purposes. Some
cave paintings discovered in other
caves tell us that Neolithic man
maybe thought that trepanation
could heal epilepsy attacks, mental
disorders or migraines.

6. GRAVE GOODS
People in the Early Neolithic made cardial pottery, a type of handmade ceramics
decorated with cockle shell imprints of a mollusk called Cardium edulis and later
baked.

7. GRAVE GOODS
Ceramics found in Cova de l’Or and
Cova de la Sarsa.

8. CONCLUSIONS
The grave goods, especially the pottery, tell us
that life in Early Neolithic changed a lot with
respect to Paleolithic. People were sedentary
and they could dedicate more time to other
issues: they improved their abilities to
produce tools (for example, the wood spoon)
and other goods like vessels.

9. SOURCES
• http://www.raco.cat/index.php/RecerquesMuseuAlcoi/article/viewFile/
178833/231203
• http://www.museuprehistoriavalencia.es/resources/files/APL/APL01/A
PL1_06_Ponsell.pdf
• http://www.academia.edu/634498/La_cova_de_la_Sarsa_Bocairent_Va
lencia_.Osteoarqueologia_de_un_yacimiento_del_Neolitico_Cardial._L
a_cova_of_la_Sarsa_Bocairent_Valencia_ostaoarqueology_of_a_cardial
_neolithic_site
• http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoria_en_la_Comunidad_Valenciana
#Paleol.C3.ADtico_Superior
• http://portaldexativa.es/el-ajuar-neolitico-del-museo-de-bocairent-tiene-
una-antiguedad-de-8-000-anos/
• http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trepanaci%C3%B3n
• http://www.aranzadi-zientziak.
org/fileadmin/docs/Munibe/2011175195AA.pdf

10. PRESENTATION MADE BY
SALVADOR FUENTES LUCAS-TORRES
2푛푑 of Bachillerato, group B
6푡ℎ October 2014