Ring-shaped structures fashioned by Neanderthals using broken stalagmites deep inside a cave in southwestern France indicate that they were more adept than previously believed.
Scientists on Wednesday described six rock structures discovered about 336m inside Bruniquel Cave in France’s Aveyron region. While their purpose is unclear, they are among the oldest-known constructions by humans.
The scientists attributed the work to Neanderthals, who thrived in Europe at the time.
Photo: AFP / CNRS / ETIENNE FARBRE
The six short-walled structures were built with pieces of stalagmites, rock formations made of mineral deposits from water. The two ring-shaped ones measured 6.7m by 4.5m and 2.2m by 2.1m. All six had traces of fire.
“They moved more than 2 tons [1.8 tonnes] of broken stalagmites,” Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory paleoclimatologist Dominique Genty said.
The purpose of the structures built, as University of Bordeaux professor of prehistory Jacques Jaubert put it, in the “underworld” remains an enigma.
Jaubert said the site probably was not a place to live or cook, being so far from daylight.
“It could be for a specific domestic use or cultural one,” Genty said.
The findings are more evidence that Neanderthals were not dimwitted, as they have long been portrayed. Other research indicates that Neanderthals used complex hunting methods, language, pigments for body painting, employed fire in a sophisticated way and performed burials.
Jaubert said there are other examples of Neanderthal structures like hearths and rock workshops, “but never the structures of this magnitude and in this deep cave context.”
Building such deep-cave structures requires leaders, mobilization of individuals to carry out the task, manufacturing construction material and keeping the site lit up for long periods, Jaubert said.
The Neanderthals probably burned bones for light, Genty said.
“This is the work of a group of at least three to four people and possibly more. All this indicates a structured society,” Jaubert said.
The people of the time seemed to possess roughly equivalent technological, social and other capabilities, Jaubert said.
The research was published in the journal Nature.
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