Gorham Cave Complex

Gorham's Caves are the last known site of Neanderthal survival.

The Complex contains four sea caves - Bennett's, Gorham's, Vanguard and Hyena - lying at the base of the eastern face of the Rock of Gibraltar. The caves lie within the youngest of five tectonic uplift blocks of the Jurassic limestone of the Rock. This represents the last 250,000 years of the history of the western Mediterranean. The four caves are filled with wind-blown sands mixed with organic material and archaeological and palaeontological deposits.

These deposits were formed largely during periods of lowered sea levels, when the coast was up to 4.5 kilometres away from the caves, and reveal the rich ecology of the caves’ surroundings. The deposits provide a unique climatic and environmental sequence in the western Mediterranean, spanning the period from 55 to 15 thousand years ago, thus including the Last Glacial Maximum, and including much evidence of human activity.

The most spectacular deposits are those of Gorham’s (18-metres in depth) and Vanguard (17-metres). Gorham’s Cave, the most investigated part of the Complex, has the most complete sequence of human occupation of the caves (the only one of its kind anywhere in the western Mediterranean) within the Complex. The greater part of the sequence, from 55,000 to 28,000 years ago, represents occupation by Neanderthals.

This cave is the last known site of Neanderthal occupation in the world. Modern Humans entered it around 20 thousand years ago. Two cultures are represented – the Solutrean and the Magdalenian. Parietal art, in the form of a painted deer and hand imprints dated to around 20 thousand years ago, was the product of the Solutrean people.

The stratigraphic sequence is completed by a sporadic occupation by Neolithic fishermen and a Phoenician-Carthaginian level dated to between 800 and 400 BC when the cave was used as a coastal shrine. 

The prehistoric levels, particularly those associated with Neanderthals, are providing a wealth of information about their behaviour, including hitherto unknown exploitation of marine resources.