14,000-Year-Old Human Footprints and Handprints Discovered in Grotta della Bàsura, Italy

Key Facts

• Location: Grotta della Bàsura, Toirano, Liguria, Italy.
• Age of footprints and handprints: Approximately 14,000 to 14,400 years ago (Late Upper Palaeolithic).
• Group Composition: Five individuals including two adults, one adolescent (~11 years old), and two children (~3 and 6 years old).
• Cultural Attribution: Epigravettian hunter-gatherers of Late Upper Paleolithic Europe.
• Number of recorded footprints and handprints: About 180.
• Locomotion Evidence: First fossil evidence of human crawling locomotion through low tunnels.
• Lighting: Use of portable torches made from dried bundles of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) twigs to illuminate the cave, with light visible up to 10 meters.
• Additional Faunal Evidence: Presence of a canid (dog or wolf) accompanying the group; abundant cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) remains in the cave.
• Research Techniques: Multidisciplinary approach utilizing modern dating, 3D modelling, laser scanning, sedimentology, geochemistry, and archaeobotany.
• Published Study: Research published in eLife, May 2019, with international collaboration from Italy, Argentina, South Africa, and the University of the Witwatersrand.

Background & Context

Grotta della Bàsura is a karstic cave located in Liguria, northwestern Italy. The cave preserves traces of Late Upper Palaeolithic human activity and diverse faunal remains. The discovered footprints and handprints represent a single exploration event by an Epigravettian group, highlighting their mobility, social structure, and technological adaptation to dark cave interiors. The innovative use of Scots pine twigs as torches illustrates early controlled use of fire for illumination during cave exploration tasks. This also reveals the inclusion of very young children in such social activities, reflecting group dynamics and behavior within that prehistoric community.

Why This Matters for Exams / Exam Relevance

This discovery provides detailed evidence about Upper Palaeolithic human behavior, technology, and social organization. For competitive exams in archaeology, anthropology, and history, the Grotta della Bàsura footprints are significant for understanding European Epigravettian culture and prehistoric adaptation. The facts concerning early human locomotion (including crawling), use of fire for lighting, and the inclusion of children in exploration activities offer important insights into prehistoric life and are often/topics in exam syllabi on human evolution and prehistoric cultures.

Points to Remember

• Grotta della Bàsura is located in Liguria, northwest Italy.
• The footprints and handprints date between 14,000 and 14,400 years ago during the Late Upper Palaeolithic period.
• The site provides the first fossil record of crawling locomotion in humans.
• Epigravettian hunter-gatherers used dried twigs of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) as portable torches within the cave.
• Five individuals in the group include children as young as three years old, showing their inclusion in such explorations.
• The research was multidisciplinary and published in eLife in May 2019.
• The cave also contains abundant cave bear remains and evidence of Pleistocene fauna.