FREE COPY FOOTBALL THE NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHERN SPAIN Yet another Official market leader miserable week Audited by PGD/OJD for Malaga CF March 2nd to 8th 2018 www.surinenglish.com Two defeats from two games sees the club facing News 2 Health & Beauty 44 what could be a very costly Comment 22 My Home 49 Lifestyle 24 Sport 52 relegation P52&53 Food & Drink 36 Classified 57 in English What To Do 38 Pastimes 62 Excavation work at the Prehistoric Caves of Ardales. :: FERNANDO TORRES ARDALES CAVE FINDINGS REWRITE HISTORY Proof has been found that the Neanderthals produced the first cave paintings, some 20,000 years before Homo sapiens P2&3 Goatherd killed and two badly beaten in brutal late-night raid on Casares farm Investigations are ongoing after a 37- hooded people with weapons Investigators suggest that the assailants year-old man was killed and two other stormed the property and demanded were looking for a rival gang’s drugs and men badly injured when armed men to know where the drugs were kept. burst into an isolated farm in Casares Guardia Civil investigators say the raid was a case of mistaken identity on Monday night and tortured the that the evidence so far points to a victims for four hours. mix-up by the attackers searching According to the survivors, five for the drugs of a rival gang. P4 New prison in Archidona Forecasts predict finally set to receive inmates in the coming heavy rainfall weeks, bringing an end to across Spain for years of delays and the next few days protests P10 Manilva residents share Andalucía Day events 88-million-euro jackpot and incoming flights to win in last week’s Malaga Airport have Euromillions draw - four times the annual municipal been disrupted P7 Tourists try to avoid the rain in Malaga. :: SALVADOR SALAS budget P12 22222222 March 2nd to 8th 2018 NEWS SUR IN ENGLISH Two archaeologists work on one of the geological formations at the Ardales Cave, on which there is a red painting that is now attributed to the One of the paintings which has been dated at the Ardales Cave. :: F. TORRES Neanderthals. :: P. C. Ardales, the birthplace of cave art to be known for the calcitic incrus- not 40,000,” concludes the study. The A team of scientists have proved that paintings in the tations associated with figures in dating shows that a red line in La Pa- cave are 20,000 years older than our species paleolithic style, especially those siega cave was painted at least 64,800 which were not done with organic years ago, that a negative red hand in materials. Maltravieso cave was drawn at least MALAGA. The prehistoric cave of which were also studied, Ardales was “This overcomes the limitations 66,700 years ago and a formation of Ardales continues to be full of mys- the home of one of the first pain- of 14 AMS carbon and the problem speleothems in Ardales cave was deco- teries, but the scientific community tings in humanity. Researchers have of preservation,” says Cantalejo, “be- rated with elongated or pseudo-el- FERNANDO is gradually uncovering more of them. concluded that the most ancient art cause during this process none of lipsoidal red concentrations at least TORRES This archaeological site, which was in Europe was not, after all, produ- the colouring material of the figure 65,500 years ago. forgotten for centuries and discove- ced by Homo sapiens, but by the has to be removed.” It also avoids These results bring a new focus Twitter: @fernandotorresu red by the first researchers nearly 100 Neanderthals. possible contamination of the samp- to the scientific debate about the years ago, has been the subject of a The research, which was carried le, in that the uranium series dates origin of cave art in the world, a con- Researchers from different new international study and the re- out in different stages by academics geological processes and does not versation which has been heighte- countries concluded that sults have just been published in the and institutions from five countries, produce contamination during the ned in recent years due to new fin- prestigious journal, Science. used the uranium-thorium method collection or subsequent handling dings. Traditionally, artistic abili- the oldest art in Europe According to datings from the pre- (known in the field of science as U/Th in the laboratory. ties have only been attributed to the was not carried out by cise uranium-thorium technique, the dating). This procedure, as Pedro Can- As the extensive article in Science first populations of modern humans Homo sapiens but by wall paintings in the cave are 20,000 talejo, who is responsible for herita- explained, U/Th dating enabled the who arrived in Europe. Despite this, years older than the time most his- ge in Ardales and for the cave, ex- researchers to confirm that the wall “in the past few years several disco- Neanderthals torians have believed that prehisto- plains, “enables us to date the incrus- paintings at Ardales, Maltravieso and veries have been made which ric art began. Together with the ca- tations and calcitic formations which La Pasiega are the oldest in the world. suggest that earlier human groups ves of Maltravieso (Cáceres) and La are in direct contact with the wall “It can be certified that the origin of such as the Neanderthals used to Pasiega (Puente Viesgo, Cantabria), paintings”. It enables definite dates the art goes back at least 65,000 years, paint their bodies red and paint or March 2nd to 8th 2018 3 SUR IN ENGLISH NEWS Guadalhorce This conclusion shows the reservoirs “great potential of the sites in Malaga,” says Cantalejo, for “This discovery means that whom it is also a way of va- lidating the efficiency of Valle de new technologies applied books on the History of Art are Abdalajís to methods of archaeolo- El Chorro AVE line gical study. The Ardales Ctra. Cave contains more than going to have to be changed” Ardales Ardales A-7078 1,000 prehistoric dra- wings from the paleo- Cave Train to Bobadilla lithic period. They were Carratraca studied, catalogued and José Ramos Professor at UCA and coordinator of the excavations published in 2006. Since Ctra. Álora then, these new mecha- A-357 nisms have enabled definite One of the greatest dates to be known and there is experts on the history of no doubt about their previously unsuspected age. Ardales and a key figure The results of the study in the in the research, analyses Science journal were presented by the results of the study the University of Cadiz, which par- ticipated in the project, last week. The presentation was attended by :: FERNANDO TORRES Professor of Prehistory José Ramos; MALAGA. José Ramos, from the the director of the Neanderthal Mu- University of Cadiz, is the director seum in Germany, Gerd-Christian of the excavation works in Ardales Weniger; the chancellor of the uni- and Teba. He was involved in the versity, Eduardo González Mazo; project and coordinated part of the the Junta de Andalucía’s Minister works, in which he has been in- of Culture, Miguel Ángel Vázquez; volved since 1985. For him, these and the mayor of Ardales, María del results are recognition of very es- Mar González. sential work. –These results have led to numer- Detail of one of thepaintings. International funding ous tributes from the scientific :: PEDRO CANTALEJO The project was funded by the Natu- community. How do you feel? ral Environment Research Council –Very happy, especially because I (UK), National Geographic Society have been working in the cave since QUOTES (USA), Max Planck Society (Germany) 1985; I have spent half my life in and the Royal Society Wolfson Re- there, so personally it is very satis- Pedro Cantalejo search Merit Award (UK). Ardales fying. Another good thing is that this Head of the Ardales Cave council provided support for the field has happened in Andalucía, which José Ramos in the Sima de las Palomas. :: FERNANDO TORRES “We can certify that the work. traditionally has always been in the Dr Gerd-Christian Weniger of the background and is now in the fore- than we realised. It was a really sur- in the world. The dates make sense. origin of cave art dates Neanderthal Museum is proud of the front. The fact that a public univer- prising result and has numerous cul- The Neanderthals were alive at that back at least 65 years, not results of this project. “It is the end sity was involved, and that this was tural and anthropological implica- time. It was a hypothesis, and now 40,000” of a process which has taken many an international project, are also im- tions. People have always thought the hypothesis has been proven. years; we know that this will change portant: science should be interdis- that modern humans were the great –How did you feel as the results the way in which we study history,” ciplinary. Finally, southern Spain artists and engineers, but the Nean- came through? Gerd-Christian Weniger he said, and it also will put an end to was where everything started. I don’t derthals have their rightful place in –We found out in the summer. We Neanderthal Museum a discussion between experts which say that in a nationalistic sense, but history now. had met several times to check and “It is the end of a process has lasted over 25 years. because it was logical. The climate –They say the history books will collate the data. We prepared the ar- The mayor of Ardales said she had here was better.