October 24, 2025
2 minute read
Ancient vulture nests reveal 600 years of human history, including 25 shoes
Scientists rappelling down the cliffs have discovered a crossbow bolt, part of a slingshot and 25 boots at ancient vulture nesting sites.
The more than 670-year-old shoe was one of 25 found in the upper layers of 12 vulture nests. This design was usually worn for several days before being repaired or replaced.
It turns out that the bearded vulture, also called ospreyor a bonebreaker is not just a scavenger. He is also an avid collector of human ephemera. This habit has given researchers in southern Spain a unique boon: “time capsules” of human activity. it goes back over 600 years in remote caves, vultures nest on the cliffside. Predators often reuse these sites over several generations.
Sifting through centuries-old eggshells, sticks and broken bones, scientists found a variety of perfectly preserved historical artifacts, including a crossbow bolt, part of a slingshot and a piece of leather with red decorations that archaeologists say may be a “very distinctive mask.” vultures seems to especially like shoes; So far, while excavating the top layers of 12 nesting sites, researchers have discovered 25 boots made from woven esparto grass.
A fragment of sheep skin that archaeologists say could be a “very peculiar mask” has been found at an ancient vulture nesting site. It is over 625 years old.
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With low humidity and protection from the elements, these rock caves provide ideal conditions for preserving traces of human history and past environmental conditions. “These are the most inaccessible places you can imagine,” says Sergio Couto, a biologist at the University of Granada and co-author of a paper on the discoveries published recently in Ecology. “You can’t get in if you can’t fly.” (Or, in the case of explorers, rappel off cliffs.)
Two nesting sites for bearded vultures on the rocks.
These findings are just the beginning, says study co-author Ana Marin-Arroyo, a professor of prehistory at the University of Cantabria. “If the upper layers are from the 13th century, then the lower layers will be older. How old?”
Possibly quite old indeed. Bearded vultures have inhabited the Iberian Peninsula since at least 29,000 years ago.fossilized feces containing acid-digested bones place the birds in what is now Portugal, where they would have lived alongside human hunter-gatherers. University of Barcelona archaeologist Montserrat Sanz, who helped discover the Portuguese fossils, says the Spanish team's findings are “very surprising” and will likely spark a wave of subsequent research.
Part of a woven grass slingshot, a crossbow bolt and spear, and a piece of a basket were all found in rows of vulture nests.
There are plenty of potential time capsules worth checking out. Vultures' range extends from Tibet to Tanzania, and the birds are unusually prolific nest-builders; while other vulture species can assemble a nest a couple of weeks before laying eggs, bearded vultures spend months building two to three nests each year before settling on one to raise their chicks.
Building these nests, which can be up to six feet wide, requires a lot of material. And just as vultures use the wool of mountain sheep for insulation, they will also take advantage of materials from their human neighbors. “They remind us how easily we forget that we are part of an ecosystem,” Sanz says.
Goat horns were found in one of the vulture nests.
Some stories seem to repeat themselves wherever vultures and humans live side by side. The same month the newspaper was published, a store in Catalonia received an unexpected customer: a young vulture snatched several espadrilles from the racks.
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