Thread by @LeMoustier

Oh my GOSH
1st new #Neanderthal skeleton in +20 years

This is BIG stuff: plenty of bits & pieces found in that time plus vital re-examination of old claimed burials, but what's been missing is a new mostly-complete find we can use 21stC methods on

[off to read paper]

https://twitter.com/tomosproffitt/status/1229747348542279684

Might tweet as I read 😁

But note: Shanidar is a tricky site and there's long been evidence of both potential intentional body deposits, AND natural rockfall as ways #Neanderthal bodies got into the ground.

Plus there's a lot of individuals but while some are close to each other spatially (and relative to unexcavated area of this humungous rockshelter, all are clustered in centre), they're not all from same period in time.

So this paper is reporting new anatomically-connected bones from right next to where a group of other #Neanderthal remains were removed in 1960s.
Key Qs: what body parts, positioning and context they're in: is it a pit, a natural feature, or under rocks on then-cave floor?

The previously removed remains (pieces from 3 adults) were taken out as a block... but original spatial relationships can't be reconstructed because they were driven to Baghdad Museum ON THE ROOF OF A TAXI, presumably battered about & disturbed.

[When writing Kindred I couldn't find clear record of what happened to Shanidar remains (bar one individual in US) during Iraq war trashing of museum. Some were stored in a vault but no official account of status was available, so I'm interested to see if this is mentioned]

OK so new results: team had already reported finding further pieces of Shanidar 5 in 2015-16

But in 2017 2m deeper cleaning section where 60s sediment block had been removed found bones sticking out (actually recognised by original dig team when they cut the block, but left).

Ribs, backbone, hand and finger bones: "clenched right hand".
Within a "curved-base scoop/depression... overlain by two large rocks".

So far, so intriguing. Obviously we need to know what's the scoop, and how did rocks get there?

Fig 2 is great (aside from my awful photo of it), really shows the vast size of site and how spread out many of the #Neanderthal individuals were, in contrast to those adjacent to new remains down by S4, 6, 8 & 9 (there's a 10 too but deeper I think and not shown)

OHHH OK paper seems to be #OA right now so you can read along and not suffer my awful screen grabs

cambridge.org/core/journals/…

This pic shows the real challenge of working out if bodies were deposited in *intentionally-cut* pits or not.

Being in the field is vital to see sediment differences which don't show up well in photos... but I see there's a micromorph sample so that will be crucial evidence

Fig 4 shows just how close beneath the previously removed sediment block the new remains are: No 4 in both photos is the same stone, although angle is different

(😍 comparing old and new excavation photos)

see here, but also note the "2" above is rooffall rocks. So there will have to be evidence that the "4" rocks aren't just a localised rockfall too, rather than something placed over bones.

OH wow the skull is totally pancaked, lying on its left side. But still sends a shiver down my spine 💀

Unclear if it was crushed by rock or sediment; and how a tooth is in sediment further back from skull is interesting Q.

Teeth suggest "middle to older aged adult"

This adds another important datapoint to quite a few older #Neanderthals, making the idea that they were largely dying young even less well-supported.

OK so the upper body looks like it was lying perhaps flat or slightly turned to left but not as much as skull.
A lot of the right arm was missing but it looks like it was bent across the chest.
Left arm was very tightly bent up with wrist flexed down, and beneath the skull.

Now the juicy bits: the paper suggests that a large stone currently mostly to one side of the skull was originally under the back of the head... but I'm not sure how that's possible without significant movement of the body.

The posture itself is interesting as some other #Neanderthals are side lying, and at v. cool Spanish shaft site Sima de Las Palomas there's two with hands raised up by their faces.

It gets more intriguing: around bones there's only 2 artefacts. One is snapped chert piece just a few cm from L hand. It's vertical but probably slid that way as flesh below decayed.
It's *under* skull so unlikely intrusive. Can't help but wonder if it was held in fingers...

That's obviously my speculation 😉... but it joins other rare cases where unusual things are found in sediment around or actually on #Neanderthal skeleton, most strikingly a big deer jaw on baby Amud 7's hip.

So what's the "scoop" feature? Team ran out of time so couldn't assess properly but took sediment sample (sliced up super thin) across bottom.
They found clear evidence deposits around body weren't same as beneath, and say there's a clean 'cut' at base. Natural or not unclear.

Extra sweet result: in brown soil around skeleton (which probably includes decomposed Neanderthal flesh & small frags of animal bone) there's also mineralised plant remains.
ID analysis ongoing but even if this is no rotted funeral bouquet, it could add to plant use evidence.

All-in-all this find ticks a LOT of the boxes even sceptics require for an intentional deposit of a body. Origin of pit will be main sticking point.
Team think no evidence of natural rockfall death, even if bones crushed. So that leaves a body in a scoop-out from cave floor.

Add to that an interesting posture, unusual object association, AND very close by at least two or three other #Neanderthals.
Even if there wasn't a dug burial pit and the stone by head is random, it's hard to see a natural explanation here. Colleagues may disagree 😉

This is *such* an important find, and further results from sediment, plants and more (inc continuing excavation below!) will really help tease out what's possible to know.

But however it turns out, welcome back to the world, Shanidar Z!

[yes this will have to go into the book, sorry @anna_macd 😁]