The most complete and well - preserved Neanderthal skeleton discovered since the turn of the millenary has been used to reconstruct the fount of its owner – a distaff member of the extinct human lineage who lived around 75,000 years ago . find within the iconic yet controversial Shanidar Cave – where Neanderthals repeatedly buried their dead , possibly on beds of flowers – the skeleton in the cupboard features in a new Netflix documentary entitledSecrets of the Neanderthals .
First let out in the fifties in Iraqi Kurdistan , Shanidar Cavehas yielded some of the most remarkable Neanderthal finds in the intact archaeological record , include the remains of at least 10 separate soul . Of particular interest are the funerary practices evidenced within the cave , which have contributed massively to our understanding of Neanderthal cognition and transformed the popular sensing of this ancient coinage from primitive animate being tocomplex mind .
For instance , at least five person seem to have been inter in a cluster behind an enormous rock , suggesting the place hold special significance and was therefore prefer as a burying ground by multiple successive generations . In the sixties , clumps of pollen were discovered around one of these skeletons , giving ascension to the idea thatNeanderthalsmay have laid flowered tributes to the deceased .
The recreated head and reconstructed skull of Shanidar Z.Image credit: BBC Studios/Jamie Simonds
“ We can see that Neanderthals are coming back to one particular spot to bury their dead , ” said Dr Emma Pomeroy from the University of Cambridge in astatement . “ This could be decades or even one thousand of years aside . Is it just a coincidence , or is it intentional , and if so what brings them back ? ”
The recently key out female has been labeledShanidar Zand was locate within the cluster buried behind the monolith , her skull crushed beneath a rock . Analysis of the remaining tooth point that she died in her mid-40s and may therefore have been respected and revere due to her ripe age .
After excavating the body , researchers painstakingly removed , scanned and reassembled the flatten skull so as to make a mannikin of the ancient woman ’s face . According to Pomeroy , this highly delicate oeuvre required huge maintenance since the bone was “ similar in consistency to a biscuit dunked in Camellia sinensis , ” its softness making it difficult to care without damaging it .
“ The skulls of Neanderthals and humans look very different , ” she says . “ Neandertal skulls have vast brow ridges and lack chins , with a projecting midface that results in more spectacular noses . But the recreated face suggests those differences were not so stark in biography . ”
“ It ’s perhaps easier to see how interbreeding hap between our species , to the extent that almost everyone alive today still has Neanderthal DNA , ” she adds . Indeed , recent enquiry has helped to reveal the many similarities betweenHomo sapiensand Neanderthals , highlighting how the latter mastered ardour , cooked food , andcreated nontextual matter .
Returning to Shanidar cave , the notion of the Neanderthal " bloom burying " has recently been challenged by grounds suggesting that the pollen was actually introduced to the cave by nestingbees . all the same , the clay find at the site paint the ancient hominids as empathic and emotionally evolved creatures , with one disabled soul show sign of having received ongoing care throughout his life .
“ Neanderthals have had a bad insistency ever since the first ones were found over 150 old age ago , ” said Professor Graeme Barker , leader of the archeological site . “ Our discoveries show that the Shanidar Neanderthals may have been think about last and its wake in ways not so very dissimilar from their closest evolutionary cousins – ourselves . ”
