Cova del Gegant-llarga

Like the rest of the coves de Sitges, known since time immemorial. As can be seen in photographs from the early 20th century, there was still a beach about 10 metres wide between the mouth of the cave and the sea, which apparently disappeared, among other causes, due to the construction of the port of Vilanova. The first speleological mention is that provided by Font i Sagué in his Catàleg (1897) and by Faura i Sans in his Recull (1909); the latter already mentions the upper mouth. It is not until the 1950s that studies are recorded at the cave in order to save the remains of the Quaternary deposit (Agrupació Muntanyenca de Sitges, 1956; Museu Biblioteca Víctor Balaguer de Vilanova i la Geltrú). In the early 1960s, Antoni Ferrer with other colleagues from Vilanova carry out research and survey work in all the cavities of the Punta de les Coves. And it is they who, in January 1965, after forcing many narrow passages, manage to achieve the union between the Cova del Gegant and the Cova Llarga. During the first years of the 1970s, researchers led by R. Viñas and J. F. Villalta carry out a new campaign of investigation of the Quaternary remains. It is in this same period that the most complete and accurate survey of the cave is made. Still, in July 1985 an emergency excavation was carried out (J. Martínez, J. Miret, R. Mora and I. Muro) in order to save some remains of the site, increasingly damaged by the action of the sea. In mid-2005, a human jaw from the first excavations made by Mn. Santiago Casanova during the 1950s was made known, and it was in a collection of more than 500 pieces that were handed over in 1998 to the Arxiu Històric de Sitges and whose director X. Miret provided to the archaeologists of the UB, J. Daura and M. Sanz, who along with others identified it as a valuable jaw of Neanderthal man.