In the 1950s, the discovery of several Neanderthal remains in the Shanidar Cave in northern Iraq caused a worldwide sensation. Now scientists have discovered a Neanderthal man in new excavations there – it is the first discovery of a cohesive skeleton of this early human species in 25 years. According to initial analyzes, the remains come from a middle-aged adult who lived around 70,000 years ago. According to the researchers, his position and the pit in which he was lying suggest that he was carefully buried.
Shanidar Cave in northeastern Iraq is famous among anthropologists. It was there that the archaeologist Ralph Solecki discovered the remains of ten Neanderthals – men, women and children – in the 1950s. Some of them had apparently been killed by boulders that had fallen from the ceiling. Others, however, appeared to have been formally buried – at least that was Solecki’s view. The “flower grave” of the skeleton Shanidar 4 was considered to be a particularly convincing indication of this. This middle-aged man lay in a fetus position on the left side of the grave, around him pollen from various plants, including medicinal plants, was found. From these characteristics, some scientists concluded that this man had received floral decorations as a grave item and that it may have been a medicinal shaman. However, this interpretation of the finds is highly controversial.
New find in old cave
Despite these finds, it is still unclear how the Neanderthals buried their dead, whether they already knew more complex death and burial rituals and what they looked like. The main reason for this: When Solecki and his colleagues recovered the bones at the time, they confused the layers of finds and destroyed valuable information, among other things, about the temporal and spatial relationship of the individual dead to each other. “Much of the research into how the Neanderthals treated their dead has to fall back on finds that are 60 to 100 years old – from a time when archaeological techniques were still far more limited,” explains first author Emma Pomeroy of the University of Cambridge. Because new finds from Neanderthals, and even whole skeletons, are extremely rare and have not occurred for 25 years, as they and their colleagues report.
Hoping to find at least some additional information about the Shanidar Neanderthals at the old site, Pomeroy and her colleagues returned to the Shanidar Cave in 2014. Since then, they have continued to excavate with interruptions. “We were lucky to find the Neanderthals’ sites from the 1950s and date the surrounding sediments,” explains Graeme Barker, excavation manager at the University of Cambridge. We didn’t expect to find any Neanderthal bones there. ”But when the researchers reopened and expanded the old Solecki trench, a rib suddenly protruded from the trench wall seven meters below the floor. Gradually, the archaeologists then exposed more parts of a skeleton, most recently the flattened skull of the dead.
Evidence of a Neanderthal burial
“This is the first Neanderthal skeleton in the anatomical bandage that has been found for 25 years,” state Pomeroy and her colleagues. Initial analyzes of the find baptized “Shanidar Z” showed that the dead person is more than 70,000 years old. According to the researchers, this person was still of an undetermined gender at the time of death in middle to older age, as the researchers report. From the position of the bones, they were able to reconstruct the position this dead man once held. He was lying on his back with his head turned to the left. The left hand was bent to the head, the right arm was bent on the chest. A triangular stone was pushed like a pillow under the head and right shoulder, so that it was slightly elevated. From this position and the shape of the pit, archaeologists conclude that this Neanderthal man was most likely buried. “There is first strong evidence that Shanidar Z has been carefully buried,” says Barker.
The scientists hope to obtain more detailed information about the circumstances of the earlier Neanderthal finds in the Shanidar cave through closer investigations of the skeleton and its surroundings. Because some dates and the position of the dead suggest that the Neanderthals may have repeatedly used the cave as a burial site for their dead. “If the Neanderthals used the Shanidar Cave as a memorial and resting place for their dead, this would indicate a high level of cultural complexity,” explains Barker. This could help to find out how advanced the burial practices of our Ice Age cousins were. “Evidence of such quality from this famous Neanderthal site will allow us to use modern technology to research information from DNA to the details of the funeral,” said the researchers. Shanidar Z’s skeleton is currently being studied in the University of Cambridge laboratories, as are numerous samples from the cave.
Source: Emma Pomeroy (University of Cambridge, UK) et al., Antiquity, doi: 10.15184 / aqy.2019.207