Scientists open secret cave chamber used by Neanderthals

Scientists exploring a network of caves inside the Rock of Gibraltar – a monolithic limestone mass in the British territory of Gibraltar – have discovered a chamber that no one had seen for 40,000 years. The bedroom measures approximately 42 square feet. It not only offers a glimpse of a pocket of the Earth long intact, but also, in all likelihood, an area where Neanderthals visited. And maybe nibbled on animal carcasses.

Gizmodo reported on the discovery, which scientists recently announced. The team visited Gibraltar’s cave system, known as the Gorham Cave Complex, in August this year. It was the continuation of a nine-year effort to determine its true dimensions. The complex is intriguing because experts consider it to be one of the last dwellings of Neanderthals in Europe. The site is so important for archeology, in fact, it is even a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Gibraltar National Museum

Professor Clive Finlayson, an evolutionary biologist who heads the National Museum of Gibraltar, led the team of scientists. Finlayson said The Guardian her team discovered the chamber when they saw a hole in the sediment of Vanguard Cave, one of the four separate caves (below) that make up the Gorham Cave complex. As they widened the gap, Finlayson and the team discovered they were able to crawl through, eventually encountering the long-lost space.

Inside the chamber, scientists have found plenty of alluring evidence of the activity of what they believe to be bears and / or Neanderthals. On the bedroom floor, Finlayson and his team found the leg bone of a lynx and the vertebrae of a spotted hyena. As well as a large griffon vulture wing bone. Although the most intriguing, they found a “dog whelk” shell that could not have gotten there from the ocean on its own.

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Scientists have not observed any cuts or marks on the bones that would signal human intervention. However, the shell strongly suggests human activity. “This piece of the cave is probably [65 feet] above sea level today, so it’s clear that someone took it up there sometime before 40,000 years ago, ”Finlayson said The Guardian. “It’s already a clue that people have been up there,” he added.

As for the use of the room? Scientists speculate that it may ultimately turn out to be a Neanderthal burial site. Or at least an option that the extinct species of archaic human would have considered for a burial place. Finlayson said The Guardian Scientists have yet to find where the Neanderthals inhabiting the Gorham Cave complex buried their dead. And it’s really more of a “deep cave” kind of room, apparently.