2023-06-26 13:15:09
Analysis of recently discovered Neanderthal human remains dating back more than 52,000 years reveals the presence of cut marks that have been interpreted as an effect of cannibalistic action.
These Neanderthal human remains come from the Cova de les Teixoneres site, a cave in the complex known as Coves del Toll (Toll Caves) in the municipality of Moià, in the Moianès region, in the province of Barcelona, in Catalonia. The remains, found during archaeological excavation work carried out by the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) and the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) of Tarragona, correspond to two fragments of the occipital (back of the skull) of a young Neanderthal individual. The finding is extremely unique since these skull remains correspond to the fourth individual recovered at the site since the first human remains appeared in 2016.
In 2016, various media outlets covered the discovery of the remains of a Neanderthal child. Since then, more isolated human remains have been recovered that have been able to be assigned to at least three different individuals: a child of around 6-7 years of age, another of more than 11 years of age, and a third senile individual. Now, during the new campaign, the remains of a fourth individual have been located. These are two fragments of the same occiput in full development, but which already has well-formed occipito-mastoid sutures. The physical characteristics of these skull fragments suggest that it is an almost adult adolescent individual.
According to the analyzes carried out so far, all these remains are slightly older than 52,000 years and were scattered over the same surface at the entrance to the cavity and mixed with the bones and teeth of other animals hunted by these humans. . Although it was initially difficult to determine the exact causes of their presence in the cave, the discovery of cut marks on a clavicle indicates that they were processed by other Neanderthals and very possibly consumed by their kin.
Excavation work in level IIIb of the Cova de les Teixoneres de Moià, where the remains of Neanderthals have appeared. (Photo: Florent Rivals / ICREA / IPHES / SEARCH)
Furthermore, the remains of these humans are highly fragmented, probably to access the marrow and other nutrients contained within their bones. This makes most of them very difficult to recognize and distinguish from those of other animals, especially in the case of the remains of children. To alleviate this problem, the team is using very specialized biomolecular techniques to identify them and to be able to carry out DNA studies, both mitochondrial and nuclear. It is hoped that the results of these studies will increase the number of human remains identified.
This is not the first documented case of cannibalism among Neanderthals, but it is the first identified in Southern Catalonia. Although anthropophagy does not seem to have been a common phenomenon among these humans, in Europe there are some sites that suggest similar practices, which suggests that other similar cases will be discovered in the future.
In addition to the members of IPHES, the team has the collaboration of researchers from other institutions such as the ICArEHB laboratory at the University of Algarve (Portugal), the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET, in Argentina), the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain and the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain, among others.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of excavations carried out in the Coves del Toll by the IPHES, which is one of the CERCA institutions of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
The presentation of the latest findings was made in a public event in which Robert Sala Ramos (director of the IPHES), and the co-directors of the research project Ruth Blasco (researcher of the IPHES), Anna Rufà (researcher of the ICArEHB) participated, among others ), Florent Rivals (ICREA researcher at IPHES), and Jordi Rosell (URV professor and IPHES researcher). (Source: URV)
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