Pioneer female researcher of the Cueva de Nerja donates gift

Marina Kress, who researched the Cueva de Nerja, was a pioneer in what was classed as a men’s profession and has now donated a fantastic gift to the Museum of Nerja.
THE donation is her collection of documents related to her participation in the archaeological excavations of the Cueva de Nerja carried out in 1963, so that it can be viewed by visitors and not allow this historical moment to fade away.
All the information donated is incorporated into the historical archive of the Cueva de Nerja Foundation, which is kept in the Nerja museum, and several photographs will be exhibited in the research section of floor 2.
The excavation into the caves in which Kress participated was directed by another pioneer woman, Ana María de la Quadra Salcedo, and took place between April 26 and May 24, 1963.
During this operation, Marina Kress dedicated herself to collecting soil samples, as she was one of the greatest experts of her time in the study of this discipline. With them, she carried out various types of research, such as edaphological, which analyse the soil in relation to its environment, and others that studied its structure or its chemical components.
She has not visited Nerja since that time, and now, after 57 years, this woman ahead of her time wanted to return and make an important historical donation, with the aim of telling her experience and sharing her legacy.
Marina Kress was born in 1935 in Barcelona, she is of German origin and has a heterogeneous training and a long professional career: doctor in pharmacy, lawyer, health inspector … She was a member of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid and director of the department of international relations of the CSIC.
In fact, in 1963, it was through the CSIC’s Institute of Soil and Plant Biology that he participated in the research team for archaeological excavations led by Professor Ana María de la Quadra Salcedo.
The Cueva de Nerja Foundation wishes to acknowledge the work of both of them, thank Kress for this donation and honour this pioneering researcher.