First Ancient Human DNA Found on Cave Walls
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- First Art project researchers sampled 11 caves across Spain and Portugal between 2022 and 2025, taking tiny shavings of paint and calcite layers from rock art including red ochre triangles, dots, and hand stencils.
- Escoural Cave in Portugal yielded ancient human DNA from red markings resembling a semicolon — the first time such DNA has been recovered from cave walls rather than floor sediment.
- Alba Bossoms Mesa at the Max Planck Institute called the Escoural find a 'happy surprise' but cautioned the DNA could be from someone who touched the art later, or 'from someone who just sneezed.'
- Ancient human DNA also turned up on cave walls with NO art (control areas), meaning even blank walls preserve genetic traces of prehistoric visitors — a result that left archaeologist Hipólito Collado Giraldo 'absolutely astonished.'
- The wall DNA was exclusively human (not mixed with animal DNA as in sediment samples), matched the western hunter-gatherer population dating to 5200–17,000 years ago, and skewed female in three of four samples.
- Of 24 rock art panels sampled, only one produced ancient DNA — a low success rate researchers expect to improve as extraction methods are refined.
- The team has begun sampling Nerja and Ardales caves, whose art has been attributed to Neanderthals, to test whether Neanderthal DNA can be recovered from cave walls.
Why it matters: Archaeologists may soon identify the actual individuals who painted prehistoric cave art — including the long-debated question of whether Neanderthals drew on Iberian cave walls — without the destruction that excavation entails; the 1-in-24 success rate shows the technique is still in its infancy but the blank-wall DNA discovery widens the prize far beyond known art panels.
