Cova Fonda

The first news known about the Cova Fonda is due to Pau Teixidor, doctor of Rodonyà and delegated member of the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya who, together with other companions, visited it on 24-5-1896 at the request of a young man who had informed him that there were many remains of bones. Already on that first visit they were able to assess the importance of the archaeological remains of the cavity, which continued with the work of Lluís Marià Vidal.

From that moment the cave is the object of many visits: Font i Sagué (1899), is accompanied by Pau Teixidor himself. Joan Ferraté with companions from Reus visit it on 15-8-1908 and make a sketch without scale or orientation of the plan (Ferraté, 1918). A few weeks later, on 8-9-1908, members of the first stage of the Club Muntanyenc (Faura, Serradell, Co de Triola and others) visit it and Faura makes a new plan, perhaps more complete than the previous one (F. Bertrand, 1912). The biospeleologists Jeannel and Racovitza visit it in October 1910 (Faura, 1911).

During an excursion organised on 25-4-1934 by the Institució Catalana d'Història Natural, in which members of the Club Muntanyenc Barcelonès also participate, the cave is visited and they make a complete work that was published the following year in Sota Terra II (Josep Closas, 1935).

Over the years it has been the object of numerous archaeological works and remains ranging from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages have been studied.

Toponymy: The original name of the cavity is Cova Fonda, which is how it appears published since the first explorations, although some added de Vilabella, believing that it was located in this municipality. It is not until the exploration of 1934 that they realise that the cave is really located in the municipality of Salomó and then they go on to call it Cova Fonda de Salomó (which is the most popularised name among speleologists). In the past it was also called Vergeracs (correctly it should be Vergerars) and it has even been called Godall.