122 Ka
1929-1934
D. Garrod
Mugharet et-Tabun cave in Wadi el-Maghara, near Mount Carmel
Adult
Male
Coming soon.
122 Ka
1929-1934
D. Garrod
Mugharet et-Tabun cave in Wadi el-Maghara, near Mount Carmel
Adult
Female
McCown and Keith 1939
Coming Soon.
60 Ka - 50 Ka
Feb 1939
A. Guattari and M. Palombi
Grotta Guattari (Monte Circeo)
1500 cc
Adult
Undetermined
Coming Soon.
50 Ka - 40 Ka
Aug 1856
Miners in a limestone cave
Felderhofer Grotto, Düsseldorf, Neander Valley, Germany
1525 cc
Adult
Undetermined
Neanderthal 1 is a skullcap that represents one of the first Homo neanderthalensis specimen ever discovered. The specimen was found in association with several post cranial fossils in Feldhofer Cave, Germany. Quarry workers who first discovered the fossils turned them over to Johann Karl Fuhlott, a local school teacher. Fuhlott suspected the fossil represented a human and sent it to anatomist Hermann Schaffhausen, who published a description of Neanderthal 1 in 18572. Assigning a date to the fossil remains contentious since the original context of the specimen was not documented3. Carbon-14 analysis on another Neanderthal specimen recovered from the mine's dumping site resulted in an estimated age of 40 Ka6. By association, Neanderthal 1's age is estimated between 40-50 Ka1.
60,000 years
1886
Grotto of Spy d'Orneau, Belgium
Male
Coming Soon.
50 Ka
3 Aug 1908
Amadee and Jean Bouyssonie and Josef Bonneval
Bouffia Bonneval, La Chapella-aux-Saints, France
1625 cc
Adult
Male
La Chappelle-aux-Saints is an adult male specimen, including a nearly complete cranium and mandible along with a fairly complete skeleton that preserves more of the upper body elements than the lower body. The fossil is attributed to the species Homo neanderthalensis. La Chappelle-aux-Saints's skeleton exhibits morphologies indicative of certain ailments which were initially described as the primitive human condition 1,2. Later discoveried helped to prove these findings untrue. Mousterian lithics and faunal remains found above the skeleton, as well as ERS dating were used to date La Chappelle-aux-Saints at approximately 50 Ka2,4. The skeleton may have been part of a simple burial4.
50 Ka
17 Sep 1909
Denis Peyrony & Louis Capitan
La Ferrassie, France
<1,600 cc
Adult, 40 - 55 yrs
Male
85
La Ferrassie 1 is an adult male cranium of the species Homo neanderthalensis that was found during excavations in a rock shelter near La Ferrassie, France in 1909 by Denis Peyrony and Louis Capitan. The individual, La Ferrassie 1, most likely occupied Europe about 50 Ka when the western portion of the continent was covered in glaciers. The rock shelter at La Ferrassie where the cranium was discovered also yielded many other individuals, including a nearly complete adult male skeleton, a female skeleton, and five juveniles that ranged in age from prenatal to 10 years. All are believed to have occupied 6 different graves, implying that Neanderthals engaged in ritualistic funerary practices.
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