The discovery of a chamber at least 40,000 years old in a cave previously inhabited by Neanderthals could lead to groundbreaking new finds about their lifestyles, according to researchers.
have been working since 2012 to find potential chambers and passages blocked by sediment in Vanguard Cave -- part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Gorham's Cave Complex.they found the 13-meter deep chamber at the back of the cave, along with a number of discoveries including lynx, hyaena and griffon vulture remains, as well as scratch marks on the walls made by an unidentified carnivore.
"The whelk is at the back of that cave... it's probably about 20 meters from the beach," he said."Somebody took that whelk in there... over 40,000 years ago. So that's already given me a hint that people have been in there, which is not perhaps too surprising. Those people, because of the age, can only be Neanderthals."
Finlayson said the team had also found the milk tooth of a Neanderthal around 4 years old, and hypothesized that they could have been dragged into the cave by a hyaena. "How many times in your life are you going to find something that nobody's been into for 40,000 years? It only comes once in your lifetime, I think."
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