You are here
Cave Structures Shed New Light on Neanderthals
The recent discovery of broken stalagmites arranged in circles in the Bruniquel Cave (southwestern France) indicate that humans started occupying caves much earlier (more than 100 millennia) than previously thought. These man-made structures also rank among the very first in human history and traces of fire show that Neanderthals knew how to use it to navigate dark and enclosed spaces, well before Homo sapiens.
Jacques Jaubert,
CNRS / Université de Bordeaux / PACEA / Ministère de la culture et de la communication
Sophie Verheyden,
Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium
Dominique Genty,
Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences,
CEA / CNRS / Université Versaille Saint Quentin