14,400 years ago, five people and a canid entered an Italian cave using pine twigs for light

A journey into a dark cave in northern Italy nearly 14,400 years ago has offered archaeologists a remarkably detailed insight into how our prehistoric ancestors explored the underworld long before lamps, flashlights or modern lighting.

A small group of Epigravettian hunter-gatherers, accompanied by a canid, most likely lit their way into the depths of Bàsura Cave in present-day Liguria, north-west Italy, using nothing more than a simple torch of pine twigs, according to a recent study published in Quaternary International.

The finding is part of a multidisciplinary analysis that combined archaeobotany, pollen analysis, charcoal analysis, and experimental archaeology to reconstruct one of Europe's most detailed records of prehistoric cave exploration.

A snapshot of prehistoric exploration in a time capsule

Bàsura Cave in Toirano, Northern Italy, has been intriguing researchers for decades as an unparalleled archive of human activity dating from the end of the last Ice Age. The cave preserves human footprints, finger marks, charcoal imprints and evidence of an accompanying canid.

At first attributed to Neanderthals, radiocarbon dating has shown that they were created much later, during the Epigravettian period, nearly 14,400 years ago, according to research published in Quaternary International, available through ScienceDirect, and earlier investigations of the site.

The cave system itself extends for roughly 800 metres , including a chamber named the "Hall of Mysteries" where many of the footprints and charcoal traces have been documented.

Clues within pollen and charcoal
In an attempt to explain how our prehistoric explorers made their way through such a treacherous environment, researchers working on the Bàsura project revisited the project and analysed sediments taken from excavations within the Hall of Mysteries. The results of the pollen analyses indicate that surrounding the Bàsura Cave, Ice Age flora consisted predominantly of open-steppe, with intermittent woodlands of pine trees interspersed amongst it, and included typical cold and dry Ice Age conditions and vegetation, such as Artemisia.

The team also analysed 56 charcoal fragments recovered from the site. More than half were identified as Scots pine or closely related pine species. Most fragments came from small branches rather than large pieces of timber.

This suggested that smaller twig torches may have been used rather than larger torches.

Reconstructing an Ice Age exploration of a cave
To test their theory, researchers carried out experimental trials in a nearby cave with environmental conditions comparable to Bàsura Cave.

The team used dried Scots pine twigs of similar dimensions to those identified in the archaeological record. The researchers modelled a journey by five individuals, matching the number inferred from the footprint evidence. The researchers found that two burning pine twigs at a time were enough to guide a group of five people travelling in a single file. Once their eyes adjusted to the darkness, visibility extended to around ten metres.

The amount of smoke created was negligible, and it was also found that small torches create a less intense glare, which was less problematic when travelling underground than that from larger torches. This also suggested that placing one torch at the front and another at the rear of the group provided effective illumination. The individuals moved together in a single file and held onto each other's shoulders so they were guided through narrow paths by the individual in front of them.

Around twenty pine twigs for a two-hour journey
The team also used this experimental research to estimate how much fuel would have been required for the actual journey.

Each burning pine torch decreased in length by roughly four centimetres per minute, and the calculations show that for a return trip from the cave entrance to the Hall of Mysteries, it would have taken about 20 pine twigs, measuring about 30 centimetres each. The researchers estimated that the journey may have taken around two hours.

Crucially, the experimental charcoal patterns closely mirrored those found in Basura cave, and the small fragments collected beneath the imprinted marks also matched the archaeological sample evidence.

Children, a canid and a hostile underworld
The footprints indicate that both adults and children entered the cave together. The tracks also show that a canid accompanied the group, although its role remains uncertain. The cave also preserves substantial evidence of cave bears, including exceptionally preserved traces of cave bear fur.

The findings add yet more layers to the already detailed exploration that occurred at Bàsura Cave more than 14,000 years ago and illustrate just how easily much could have been lost if the footprints had never been found.

For archaeologists, those traces continue to illuminate not only the cave itself, but also the ingenuity and adaptability of the people who once explored it.

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