A group of speleologists from Arrasate and surroundings found the Lezetxiki cave completely damaged by the works of the TAV. They explain that two years ago they realized that a "normal path" of access to the cave was covered by large fallen stones and could not pass through it. They have recently entered another unknown step and found an "enormous limestone and detachment of land", and more indoors they encounter a tunnel of TAV works.

"About 40 meters later we found a wall of meshes and metal sheets. After a better analysis, we found that this was an external coverage of the High-Speed Train Tunnel," they explain by note. In the images and videos sent to the press you can see the gallery of Lezetxiki, taken by the chaos of stone and semi-perforated by a large metallic cylindrical structure.

"We have no doubt that the damage will be greater, even if it is not uncovered," the speleologists say, and they have seriously denounced what happened: "It is unacceptable that Lezetxiki should be destroyed in this way, which is an important archaeological heritage of Mondragon and the Basque Country, and is the cave most dear to us," they say.

The TAV has destroyed Arrasate’s Txiki Cave. Cave of great archaeological and symbolic value. #arrasate #ahtez pic.twitter.com/VYIEq2qgEY

January 28, 2023

The oldest human remains in Euskal Herria

Lezetxiki is an important site where the oldest human remains of Euskal Herria, José Miguel de Barandiarán and Jesús Altuna were found, specifically the hug of a woman of 156,000 years ago.

But also many more clues have emerged. Since 1996, the excavations led by Alvaro Arrizabalaga of the UPV/EHU have had the presence of the bones of the bear and the lion of the caves, the lytic industry of the Aurigñac and the Mousterian, the time of a homo sapiens and the teeth of Neanderthal man. In fact, a new study on these teeth confirms that they are the last Neanderthal remains in the north of the Iberian Peninsula.

The Lezetxiki site was declared a Cultural Property of Special Protection by the Basque Government in June 2022, under the category of Archaeological Area. The cave of Lezetxiki, the lower galleries and the coat itself are the protected elements.

At the heart of the Udalaitz TAV link

Located near Udalaitz, the initial project of the TAV route captured Lezetxiki in full boiling and probably disappeared if it had not been for the resources put in the project in 1998. However, archaeologists and local institutions had been claiming the legal protection of the cave for years.

Lezetxiki is located in the vicinity of one of the main links of the TAV and its works have accelerated in the last two or three years. Precisely, when the speleologists found the cave gallery closed two years ago, they claim that the noise and vibrations of the works were heard.

Response from Adif

The competence of the works of the TAV of Arrasate-Elorrio corresponds to the Adif Society, which has wanted to clarify by note that the affected area was not catalogued and that, upon warning that the works of the TAV entered the cave, it sent a notice to the Department of Culture of Gipuzkoa. The study conducted by foral archaeologists concluded that "the general state of the cave was good and that there were no archaeological and paleontological remains," says Adif.

For its part, the Department of Culture of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa has pointed out that this gallery seen in the images is "far away" from the site, at the "other end" of the cave and outside the protected area. He also recalls that a few years ago a Lezetxiki gallery was affected by the works of the TAV in the area.