“These caves have been giving us a great deal of information about the behaviour of these people,” said Finlayson. Since we’re speculating, a chamber at the back of a cave could be quite suggestive – it’s total speculation, but you’re not going to bury people in your kitchen or in your living room.”Įfforts to explore and excavate further are being planned, but the researchers believe the new area could yield precious clues about the existence and society of these coastal, Mediterranean Neanderthals. “I’m speculating now, but what we haven’t found is where they buried their own. “One of the things that we’ve found on many levels of this cave is clear evidence of occupation – campfires and so on,” said Finlayson. The team is hopeful that their dig down from the apex of the cave could lead to side chambers and perhaps even the odd burial site. “We’re looking to see if there’s more of that child left there.” “We’re still looking there, but there was no occupation by Neanderthals on that level, so we suspect that the hyenas got the kid and killed him or her and dragged her into the back of the cave,” said Finlayson. Four years ago, the researchers came across the milk tooth of a four-year-old Neanderthal child in an area frequented by hyenas. “That’s already a hint that people have been up there.”Įlsewhere in the caves, the team has recovered ample evidence of Neanderthal occupation, from hearths and stone tools to the remains of butchered animals including red deer, ibex, seals and dolphins. “That bit of the cave is probably 20 metres above sea level today, so clearly somebody took it up there some time before 40,000 years ago,” said the professor. Photograph: Clive Finlayson/Gibraltar Museum I wonder whether that lynx whose femur we found was actually scratching on the walls.”Īlthough the bones – which showed no cuts or marks consistent with human intervention – are interesting in themselves, the team also found a large dog whelk shell that raises tantalising possibilities.įrom the left, the entrances to the Bennett’s, Gorham’s, Vanguard and Hyaena caves, which constitute the four main caves of the Gorham’s complex. You’d normally associate that kind of claw mark with bears – and we do have bear remains in the cave, but they look a bit small to me. “We’ve also found six or seven examples of scratched claw marks on the walls of the cave. “Something dragged things into there a long time ago,” said Finlayson. Scattered across the chamber’s surface were the leg bone of a lynx, vertebrae from a spotted hyena, and the large wing bone of a griffon vulture. “In a way, it’s almost like discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun you’re going into a space that no one’s been into for 40,000 years. “It’s quite a chamber,” Finlayson told the Guardian. It led them to a 13-metre space in the roof of the cave where stalactites hung from the ceiling and broken curtains of rock suggested damage from an ancient earthquake. Last month the team, led by Prof Clive Finlayson, an evolutionary biologist who serves as director of the Gibraltar National Museum, came across a gap in the sediment, which they widened and crawled through.
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