Gavà Mines
[2] From the Iberian and Roman times through the Middle Ages, the mines were re-exploited to obtain iron ore.
The Gavà mines are located on the West side of the Llobregat River, at the foot of the eastern slopes of the Garraf Massif, in the sectors known as Ferreres, Rocabruna and Tintorer.
The geological structure of the area is dominated by slates and limestones of the Paleozoic era, formed between the Silurian and Devonian periods, about 408 million years ago.
Slates and limestones are arranged in strongly inclined layers with numerous folds, faults, and overlays, due to folding during the Variscan orogeny (290 million years ago) and the Alpine orogeny (65 million years ago).
In 1978 the original nucleus of the CIPAG (Collective for the Investigation of Prehistory and Archeology of the Garraf-Ordal) began the first archaeological excavations.
The Gavà Museum was created later in that year, with the mission to explore the site and research, store, and divulge its finds.
In parallel to the excavations and the dissemination, the works of conservation and restoration began with the collaboration of the Department of Mining and Natural Resources of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.
New Neolithic and Iberian-Roman mines (number 83, 84 and 85) were located and excavated, yielding funerary artifacts with exceptional pieces such as a red coral necklace, an obsidian plate, square-shaped ceramics and honey silex.
[7] In the Neolithic, the inhabitants of the site had access to varied vegetation environments from the surrounding mountains, plain, and coast.
Along the coastline the flora was mainly oleo-ceratonion shrubland, with shrubs like the European fan palm (Chamaerops humilis), lentisk (Pistacia lentiscus), heather (Erica sp.
), poplar, laurel (Laurus nobilis), ferns , kermes oak (Quercus coccifera) and cultivated fields.
The presence of ruderal species and adventitious plants, as well as the association Rumex-Plantago-Cyperaceae shows the existence of disturbed and nitrified soils due to anthropogenic actions such as agriculture and livestock.
Shellfish was collected for both food and ornamental purposes, including Chamelea gallina, the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis), limpets (Patella sp.
The inhabitants also collected wild plant resources, such as olives, fox grapes (Vitis labrusca) and hazelnuts (Corylus avellana).
[3][9] The local inhabitants of the site during the Neolithic mining period used tools made of bone, and both chipped and polished stone.
[11] Characteristic ceramics found among grave offerings include wide-mouth pots with a perforated horizontal ridge at mid-height, presumably intended to be suspended by ropes; and rectangular box-like bowls.
After displacing the remains previously buried, the body was placed in a fetal position which was accompanied by funerary offerings (ceramics, tools, ornaments, etc.).
The burials also provide evidence of medico-sanitary practices, including healed bone fractures and an individual who survived two skull trepanations.
It has been conjectured that the stone's green color was symbolic of life; and the fetal position of the bodies, as well as the funerary offerings, reflected a cult of the Earth and belief in rebirth.
[3] That the community had specific religious beliefs is strongly indicated by figurines such as the Venus of Gavà, which has been interpreted as a fertility goddess[3] Another puzzling find, that may have religious significance, is a large collection of artifacts including bone tools, arrowheads, variscite beads, and more, in mine 85.
The entrance well then was blocked with a large boulder, roughly egg-shaped, about 1.3 m tall and 90 cm wide, and more soil.
[11][10] In the funerary chamber were found a rectangular box-like ceramic bowl (with traces of fatty acids, suggesting that it contained lard or tallow, possibly part of a confit[13]), stone axe heads, a bone tool, cylindrical flint cores, blades of flint, a blade of obsidian from Sardinia,[14] a handful of variscite bits, and two necklaces (one of variscite with polished oval beads,[15] and one of red coral.
[10][16] The bones seem to belong to a single adult individual, but they were extremely fragmented and incomplete, so the sex could not be determined.
At the bottom, there starts a straight gallery (1) about 10 m long, that slopes down for about 2.5 m. A second access well, which may have been created accidentally, is located about 2 m from the first one.
