Flowery Funerals? The Controversial Neanderthal Found In An Iraqi Cave [View all]

Pollen was found embedded in a Neanderthal skeleton at the Shanidar Cave. Is this evidence of an elaborate flowery funeral?

TOM HALE
Feb 17, 2023 8:35 AM



The Shanidar Cave, an archaeological site located on Bradost Mountain in the Erbil Governorate of Kurdistan Region. Image credit: Hardcarf/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)


The discoveries made in the Shanidar Cave are some of the most thought-provoking and divisive Neanderthal remains ever recovered. Among the handful of skeletons found scattered within the cave, one appears to have been laid to rest alongside significant amounts of pollen.

Some have interpreted this as evidence of a grand burial ritual as if a funeral was held for the Neanderthal and flowers were placed upon their grave. If that claim is correct, it would be yet another example of how Neanderthals possessed a level of emotional intelligence on par with Homo sapiens and suggest the species were not the heavy-browed dopes they are still sometimes portrayed as.

However, this claim is not without its controversy. Found within the Zagros Mountains in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, the Shanidar Cave was excavated in the 1950s and 1960 by Ralph Solecki and his team from Columbia University.

At least nine Neanderthal skeletons were found buried here at the time, while a later excavation revealed another body. The number of remains found here indicates they were buried in an organized fashion, like a Neanderthal graveyard.

More:
https://www.iflscience.com/flowery-funerals-the-controversial-neanderthal-found-in-an-iraqi-cave-67585