First sperm whale tooth from 3rd millennium Iberian peninsula discovered

Sandee Oster
contributing writer

Gaby Clark
scientific editor

Andrew Zinin
lead editor

A team of researchers, led by Dr. Samuel RamÃrez-Cruzado Aguilar-Galindo, recently provided a comprehensive, multidisciplinary study of a sperm-whale tooth found in the Copper Age mega-site of Valencina de la Concepción-Castilleja de Guzmán (henceforth referred to as Valencina).
The Valencina site, located southwest of Seville, Spain, has been the subject of research interest since the discovery of the tholos-type megalithic monument known as La Pastora. In 2018, a section of the mega-site, called Nueva Biblioteca (New Library), was excavated as part of the construction of a new municipal library.
Among the finds, which included lithics (stone tools), animal remains, and pottery fragments, was a single 13.2 cm large tooth.
Morphological analyses and comparison to other collections revealed the tooth to belong to an adult sperm whale.
"It belongs to an old specimen," explains Dr. RamÃrez-Cruzado Aguilar-Galindo, "based on the wear visible on the labial side, and a smoothed fracture with loss of material on the lingual side that indicates that it was produced during the animal's life."
Taphonomic analysis revealed the tooth had likely spent some time on the sea floor shortly after the animal's death. Here it was subject to scavenging, possibly by sharks, as indicated by tooth marks left on the specimen's surface. Eventually, the tooth was colonized by various species of sponges and gastropods.
The tooth likely spent some time buried in the sea floor sediment before it was dragged to the surface, likely through an energetic event such as storms or large tidal action.

Here, the tooth remained, developing a cemented crust and root etchings before being picked up by humans.
The lower half of the tooth is missing, having been removed by people who split it using steady pressure and a chisel-like tool.
In Neolithic Europe, a phenomenon emerged involving pits that contained deposits of sometimes high intrinsic cost and social value. These pits lack human remains and are thus not burials, but rather are interpreted as ritualistic deposits.
In Valencina, there is a plethora of evidence to suggest that large animals were treated with reverence and were often included as grave goods for socially prominent individuals.
"I support the idea that they knew the animal it came from or at least that it came from a huge marine animal... People at that time knew their surroundings, the resources, they would have contact with other communities. For example, in Portugal, there are objects made with sperm whale bones, so for the Copper Age as well, so who knows if they share stories about big sea creatures," Dr. RamÃrez-Cruzado Aguilar-Galindo explains.
In this case, it is possible that the sperm whale tooth was included in such a ritual deposit, as it was recognized as having come from a large animal or even recognized as having belonged to a whale. In this case, it may have been given the same reverence as other large animal remains.
The discovery of the Valencina sperm whale tooth is the first ever found on the Iberian Peninsula during the 3rd millennium and the second for the western Mediterranean, with only one other sperm whale tooth having been recently discovered in Monte d'Accoddi.
Dr. RamÃrez-Cruzado Aguilar-Galindo elaborates, saying, "The interesting thing about both teeth is that they are the only sperm whale teeth from the Neolithic-Chalcolithic time found in archaeological contexts in Europe, at the moment. Both were found in very important places, almost sacred, I would say, which speaks of the importance given to these pieces."
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More information: RamÃrez-Cruzado Aguilar-Galindo et al, From the jaws of the "Leviathan": A sperm whale tooth from the Valencina Copper Age Megasite, PLOS One (2025).
Journal information: PLoS ONE
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