Ancient DNA Found On Cave Walls | Mirage News
Latest
Fortnightly Roads Update 25 June
Govt Moves on Conservation Bill Concerns
Mount Waverley Reserve: Green and Clean Initiative
Keeping Racism Out Of Community Sport
Public Works Plan by ANSTO, DEWR, Defence Referred
Griffith To Host 2026 NSW Dirt Track Championships
Finalisation Of Glenorie Place Strategy
Play It Safe On Territory Day
New Chapter For Cominos House Community Hub
Griffith Sports Centre Lighting Upgrade Begins
Mirage News
Mirage News
Mirage News
Science
24 Jun 2026 8:48 pm AEST
Date Time
Share
Max Planck Society
Human DNA can survive on cave walls for thousands of years - shedding light on prehistoric human activity even where bones, sediments or artifacts are absent
Polychrome ceiling of Altamira from which pigment samples were analysed.
© Matthias Meyer
Polychrome ceiling of Altamira from which pigment samples were analysed.
© Matthias Meyer
To the Point<br>First evidence of ancient human DNA on cave walls: As part of a multidisciplinary study of Palaeolithic rock art in Spain and Portugal, researchers have successfully recovered ancient mitochondrial and nuclear human DNA from both pigmented and unpigmented cave wall surfaces.<br>Possible direct human contact preserved: Cave wall samples from Escoural Cave in Portugal, including a pigmented calcite crust, revealed the presence of human DNA but no faunal DNA, suggesting that the DNA was deposited directly through human interaction with the cave walls.<br>DNA on cave walls can survive millennia: The ancient human DNA recovered from the cave walls is at least 2,000 years old, likely much older, showing that these surfaces can preserve biological traces for considerable periods of time.<br>New window into prehistoric life: This breakthrough opens up a new frontier in archaeogenetics. Future studies might be able to gain insights into the occupation, movement and behaviour of humans in caves by analysing DNA on cave walls, even when skeletal remains are absent.
For the first time, scientists have shown that ancient human DNA can survive for thousands of years on cave walls, opening new ways to study prehistoric human activity. This interdisciplinary study was conducted within the framework of the First Art project, which is led by researchers from Spain and Portugal in collaboration with institutions across Spain, Portugal, the UK, China and Germany.<br>The First Art project aims to date the earliest cave art and to characterise its chemical composition. In collaboration with researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the team has now extended their analyses to include DNA analysis.<br>The findings explore the possibility of recovering ancient DNA directly from cave art, going beyond bones, sediments or, more recently, bone artefacts. The research focused on 24 rock art panels from eleven caves, including simple marks, hand stencils, as well as pigment naturally falling from some figurative paintings from the famous Cave of Altamira. Using cutting-edge DNA extraction and sequencing methods, the team analysed pigmented and unpigmented cave wall fragments, sediments, bones and a rare ancient airbrush tool used for applying paint.<br>Although the researchers found traces of ancient human DNA in one pigmented calcite crust sampled in Escoural Cave (Portugal), to their surprise they also found ancient human DNA in several non-pigmented parts of the cave wall in Escoural as well as in Covarón Cave (northern Spain), which had initially been sampled as negative controls.<br>The study shows that human DNA can be preserved on cave walls long after the populations that visited the cave have disappeared.<br>A hidden legacy in the stone
Pigment sampling at a claviform rock art figure in Tebellín, Spain.
© Alberto Martínez Villa; from: Bossoms Mesa et al., Nature Communications (2026)
Pigment sampling at a claviform rock art figure in Tebellín, Spain.
© Alberto Martínez Villa; from: Bossoms Mesa et al., Nature Communications (2026)
Of the 54 samples collected, only five yielded authentic ancient human mitochondrial DNA: a calcite crust with pigment underneath from Panel 11 at Escoural Cave, two unpigmented cave wall samples from a deeper gallery also from the same site, and two unpigmented samples adjacent to rock art in Covarón. Importantly, two of these samples showed no detectable faunal mitochondrial DNA, a rare finding which strongly suggests that the DNA was deposited directly by humans through saliva or other bodily fluids. By contrast, three other unpigmented wall samples contained both human and faunal DNA, suggesting indirect deposition, likely via sediment transfer or water movement, rather than direct contact.<br>"We know that some of the art was applied to cave walls by blowing or rubbing pigment onto the surface. Given the enormous sensitivity of current ancient DNA analysis techniques, we were eager...