Shanidar Cave

Shanidar Cave (Kurdish: ئەشکەوتی شانەدەر, romanized: Eşkewtî Şaneder, Arabic: كَهَف شانِدَر) is an archaeological site on Bradost Mountain, within the Zagros Mountains in the Erbil Governorate of Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. Neanderthal remains were discovered here in 1953, including Shanidar 1, who survived several injuries, possibly due to care from others in his group, and Shanidar 4, the famed 'flower burial'. Until this discovery, Cro-Magnons, the earliest known H. sapiens in Europe, were the only individuals known for purposeful, ritualistic burials.

The site, 1⁄2 mile (800 m) from the Great Zab river and near Rowanduz, lies at 2,100 feet (640 m) above sea level. The cave entrance is triangular, 82 feet (25 m) wide by 26 feet (7.9 m) high. Its dimensions are, at maximum, 175 feet (53 m) wide, 45 feet (14 m) wide, and 130 feet (40 m) deep.

Anthropologist Ralph Solecki, part of the University of Michigan Expedition to the Near East, first explored the site with a sounding in 1951. He returned in 1953, under the auspices of the Directorate General of Antiquities of Iraq and the Smithsonian Institution, for another sounding. The first human body, Mousterian age, possibly Neanderthal, infant, was found. The next season, in 1956–57, conducted soundings at two nearby village sites and continued work at the Shanidar Cave. Three Neanderthal unfossilized skeletons were found at the cave. One was nearly complete (Shanidar I - field catalog no. 504 III), one was fragmentary (Shanidar III - field catalog no. 384 III), and for one only the skull was excavated at that time (Shanidar II - field catalog no. 618 III). Two Neolithic skeletons were also recovered, an infant and female teenager (with grave goods). Frequent use of explosives, up to eight sticks at a time, were employed in these excavations.

During the fourth season, in 1960, a largely complete adult Neanderthal skeleton was recovered (Shanidar IV). Its state was considerably more fragile than the earlier specimens. While extracting it bones of another Neanderthal, possibly two, were noted and tentatively designated Shanidar VI. The former was presumed male and the later female based on size. The badly damaged and scattered remains of one adult Neanderthal male was designated Shanidar V. After the field material had been processed and analyzed more Neanderthal remains were declared. Shanidar 9 was an infant represented only by vertebrae. The remains of Shanidar 9 were discovered in the removal of Shanidar 4 when encasing it in sediment block and transporting it to the Baghdad Museum. Shanidar 8 was an adult with partial fragmentary skeleton. Shanidar 6 and 7 were skull, teeth and partial skeleton, all fragmentary. Shanidar 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 were found as individual burials while the other remains were found in a single compressed block.

Overall these excavations found the remains of seven adult and two infants Neanderthals, dating from around 65,000–35,000 years ago. These individuals were uncovered amongst a Mousterian layer (layer D), overlaid by a Baradostian culture layer (layer C), a Mesolithic Zarzian layer (layer B) and a Holocene Neolithic layer (layer A), accompanied by various stone tools and animal remains. The cave also contains two later proto-Neolithic cemeteries, one of which dates back about 10,600 BCE and contains 35 individuals, and is considered by Solecki to belong to the Natufian culture. Also, in 2018, Shanidar-11 and Shanidar-12 were discovered.

Investigations were conducted in 2014-2015 under the auspices of the Kurdistan Directorate of Antiquities. The remains found in the Shanidar cave are being reexamined to analyze the mortuary activity of the Neanderthal people who inhabited this area. There are various signs of activity with the remains after death being that the position of the skull and mandible of Shanidar 1 were not natural. Examinations of other sites will be integral in understanding and analyzing the activity of the remains after death of those found in the Shanidar cave. Additional work is being conducted on the faunal remains found in Layer D at the University of Chicago to analyze butchery activity. Many remains found had cut marks that were caused by flint items which correlates to butchery practices.

The ten Neanderthals at the site were found within a Mousterian layer which also contained hundreds of stone tools including points, side-scrapers, and flakes and bones from animals including wild goats and spur-thighed tortoises.

The first nine (Shanidar 1–9) were unearthed between 1957 and 1961 by Ralph Solecki and a team from Columbia University. The skeleton of Shanidar 3 is held at the Smithsonian Institution. The others (Shanidar 1, 2, and 4–8) were kept in Iraq and may have been lost during the 2003 invasion, although casts remain at the Smithsonian. In 2006, while sorting a collection of faunal bones from the site at the Smithsonian, Melinda Zeder discovered leg and foot bones from a tenth Neanderthal, now known as Shanidar 10.