7,000-year-old scrap of goat leather from a Spanish burial cave contains DNA

In the hot and dry climate of southern Spain, a 7,000-year-old piece of goat leather has survived to tell a story beyond its material use. Preserved within it are genetic clues to the animal it once belonged to, leading historians and archaeologists to understand the livestock of the time, domestication of goats, and how humans and animals lived alongside one another thousands of years ago.According to a research paper published in PLOS ONE on November 4, 2026, researchers analysed a preserved goat leather specimen recovered from Cueva de los Murciélagos, a cave in Albuñol, Granada, in southern Spain.

The study, titled 'Genetic analysis of 7,000 year old preserved goat leather from Cueva de los Murciélagos (Albuñol, Spain), was led by Jolijn A. M.

Erven and involved researchers from several institutions, including University College Dublin and Durham University.Unlike bones and other harder remains, materials such as animal skin, clothing and wooden objects are especially vulnerable to deterioration over long periods.