A stone bridge inside Genovesa Cave on Mallorca, Spain, was likely built between about 6,000 and 5,600 years ago, according to a 2024 study. Researchers infer the age from the bridge’s position and evidence about past sea levels—not from a direct date of the stonework. The finding suggests people were present on Mallorca at least 5,600 years ago, earlier than the often-cited estimate of roughly 4,400 years, but it does not establish the exact date of the island’s first settlement.
Where was the submerged bridge found?
The bridge lies in Genovesa Cave on Mallorca, one of Spain’s Balearic Islands. A University of South Florida release describes it as approximately 25 feet long. It is now submerged in the cave, but the researchers argue it was built when sea level was lower.
How old is the bridge?
The study estimates a construction window of approximately 6,000 to 5,600 years ago. This is an indirect estimate, not a radiometric date taken from the bridge itself. The authors say the assembly date remains uncertain because the structure has no written record or robust time-stratigraphic context.
How the researchers reached the estimate
The authors compared the bridge’s depth and height with a high-resolution reconstruction of Mallorca’s Holocene relative sea level and U-series ages from phreatic overgrowths on cave formations. Their reasoning is that the structure would most likely have been built above water. As the study authors put it, “Building a bridge below water level is a highly unlikely scenario, and thus it was likely built at an earlier time, when sea level was lower.”
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The sea-level reconstruction places the top of the feature near water level no earlier than about 5,600 years ago, providing an approximate latest bound for construction. The authors discuss a possible start as early as about 6,000 years ago. Their chronology also depends on interpreting a coloration mark and cave deposits, so the interval should be understood as an environmental and archaeological inference rather than a precise construction date. Read the study in Communications Earth & Environment.
What does the bridge suggest about people on Mallorca?
The study presents the bridge as evidence that people were on Mallorca at least 5,600 years ago, revising the possible timeline earlier than the commonly cited estimate of human arrival around 4,400 years ago. These figures describe different things: the bridge’s inferred construction window and a broader estimate of human arrival. The structure does not pinpoint the first arrival, prove continuous settlement, or establish how long people remained on the island.
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Lead author Bogdan Onac offered an interpretation of the builders’ activity in a University of South Florida release: “The presence of this submerged bridge and other artifacts indicates a sophisticated level of activity, implying that early settlers recognized the cave’s water resources and strategically built infrastructure to navigate it.” That is Onac’s interpretation of what the bridge and other artifacts may indicate, not direct evidence of the builders’ motives. Read the University of South Florida release via EurekAlert!
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the find matters to construction history
The bridge is a reminder that built structures can preserve evidence of engineering and movement long after their original setting has changed. Here, rising sea level helps explain why a feature argued to have been built above water is submerged today—and gives researchers a way to estimate when it may have been constructed. The significance is not a precisely dated building milestone, but a new piece of evidence that shifts the plausible timeline for people adapting to Mallorca’s landscape.
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