Archaeologists have recorded at least 120 Latin inscriptions at a Roman sanctuary in Spain’s Cova Dones, adding to a record that also includes Iberian offerings and Paleolithic art.
Researchers from the universities of Alicante and Zaragoza cataloged the inscriptions during fieldwork in May and June 2026. The University of Alicante said most date to the first and second centuries A.D. About 15 inscriptions had been identified before the campaign.
Five votive inscriptions address a goddess as Domina, meaning “the Lady.” Three of those five also contain “MALACI,” a word whose meaning the researchers are still studying. They have suggested it may be connected to water. The team said women’s names in the inscriptions indicate that women participated in worship at the sanctuary.
The University of Zaragoza said the new count could be the highest known for a cave sanctuary in the Roman Empire. The comparison remains provisional as research continues.
The sanctuary was found in 2024 and announced in January 2025. It lies more than 200 meters from the cave entrance. Early finds included a coin from the reign of Emperor Claudius that researchers described as an offering.
Cova Dones is in Millares, in Spain’s Valencia region. A 2023 study in Lucentum counted almost 200 calyx-shaped vessels among deposits associated with Iberian ritual activity from the fifth to third centuries B.C. The study also recorded other pottery, metal objects and animal remains.
The cave’s Paleolithic art was identified in 2021. In a 2023 Antiquity study, researchers documented more than 110 examples of cave art, including at least 19 animal figures. They estimated from indirect evidence that at least some of the art is more than 24,000 years old and said further work was needed to refine its chronology.
Researchers have proposed water, the underground landscape and ease of access as possible reasons people visited the cave in different periods. They plan further surveys and study of the Roman inscriptions, but have given no date for the next findings.
