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New Neanderthal remains associated with the ‘flower burial’ at Shanidar Cave

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Bennett, Paul 
Hunt, Chris 
Reynolds, Tim 
Farr, Lucy 

Abstract

Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan became an iconic Palaeolithic site following Ralph Solecki's mid twentieth-century discovery of Neanderthal remains. Solecki argued that some of these individuals had died in rockfalls and—controversially—that others were interred with formal burial rites, including one with flowers. Recent excavations have revealed the articulated upper body of an adult Neanderthal located close to the ‘flower burial’ location—the first articulated Neanderthal discovered in over 25 years. Stratigraphic evidence suggests that the individual was intentionally buried. This new find offers the rare opportunity to investigate Neanderthal mortuary practices utilising modern archaeological techniques.

Description

Keywords

Iraqi Kurdistan, Shanidar, Palaeolithic, Neanderthal, mortuary practice

Journal Title

Antiquity

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0003-598X
1745-1744

Volume Title

94

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Leverhulme Trust (Research Grant RPG-2013-105), the Rust Family Foundation, the British Academy, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Society of Antiquaries, the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge and the Natural Environment Research Council’s Oxford Radiocarbon Dating Facility (grant NF/2016/2/14). The ongoing dating program is supported by the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement number 324139 “PalaeoChron” awarded to Professor Tom Higham, University of Oxford