Secret cave chamber may be one of the last Neanderthal hideouts

By Owen Jarus about 1 hour ago

It was sealed off for 40,000 years.



This cave chamber was sealed off by sand around 40,000 years ago. It would have been used by Neanderthals. (Image credit: Gibraltar National Museum)

A cave chamber sealed off by sand for some 40,000 years has been discovered in Vanguard Cave in Gibraltar — a finding that could reveal more about the Neanderthals who lived in the area around that time.

"Given that the sand sealing the chamber was [40,000] years old, and that the chamber was therefore older, it must have been Neanderthals," who lived in Eurasia from about 200,000 to 40,000 years ago and were likely using the cave, Clive Finlayson, director of the Gibraltar National Museum, told Live Science in an email.

While Finlayson's team was studying the cave last month, they discovered the hollow area. After climbing through it, they found it is 43 feet (13 meters) in length, with stalactites hanging like eerie icicles from the chamber ceiling. Along the surface of the cave chamber, the researchers found the remains of lynx, hyenas and griffon vultures, as well as a large whelk, a type of sea snail that was likely carried into the chamber by a Neanderthal, the archaeologists said in a statement.

While Finlayson's team was studying the cave last month, they discovered the hollow area. After climbing through it, they found it is 43 feet (13 meters) in length, with stalactites hanging like eerie icicles from the chamber ceiling. Along the surface of the cave chamber, the researchers found the remains of lynx, hyenas and griffon vultures, as well as a large whelk, a type of sea snail that was likely carried into the chamber by a Neanderthal, the archaeologists said in a statement.

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