Evolution & Human Origins

To step into the Shanidar Cave in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains of northern Iraq is to step into the Neanderthal world of 75,000 years ago. Neanderthal cave dwellers gathered around the fire to cook grains, nuts, and wild plants. They roasted meat and enjoyed their family. Near the cave entrance, they made tools and crafted rocks into points for hunting or scrapers for processing animal hides. Deep inside the cave, there was a sacred place where hand prints and animal drawings decorated the walls. In the dark shadows, there was a family cemetery, a well-marked and often visited burial place for generations. According to Cambridge Professor Graeme Barker, who leads the excavations at the cave: “Our discoveries show