Hidden Chamber Uncovered at Famous Gibraltar Cave That Sheltered Neanderthals

An effort to seek out hidden passages and chambers on the Gorham’s Cave Complex in Gibraltar has paid off after almost 10 years of looking.

Neanderthals and trendy people lived within the Gorham’s Cave Complex for millennia, leaving fossils, instruments, proof of campfires, the stays of butchered animals, and even early artworks within the type of scratched patterns. The cave complicated was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016 on account of it being “an exceptional testimony to the occupation, cultural traditions and material culture of Neanderthal and Early Modern Human populations through a period spanning more than 120,000 years.”

Located on the jap facet of the Rock of Gibraltar, the complicated consists of a number of caves, together with Vanguard Cave, Hyaena Cave, and Bennett’s Cave. Researchers with the Gibraltar National Museum launched a challenge in 2012 to gather higher measurements of the cave and to seek for unknown passageways and chambers hidden by steadily encroaching sediments. It took almost 10 years, however the crew, led by evolutionary ecologist Clive Finlayson, has lastly discovered one thing of significance.

“Several weeks ago archaeologists from the Gibraltar National Museum, nine years on, discovered a large chamber at the very back of Vanguard Cave,” in line with a press release. “Preliminary investigation has revealed a 13-metre [42 feet] chamber on the very roof of the cave.”

Speaking to the Guardian, Finlayson said it was “almost like discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun” when he and his colleagues ventured into “a space that no one’s been into for 40,000 years.” To which he added: “It’s quite sobering, really.”

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Work on the newly found chamber stays preliminary, however some attention-grabbing discoveries have already been made—and there are tantalizing hints that extra remains to be to come back. The crew uncovered proof of a number of animals, specifically a lynx, hyena, and Griffon vulture. No marks according to butchery have been discovered on these bones, The Guardian reports. Scratch marks have been discovered on the cave partitions, produced by a yet-to-be-identified carnivore.

Intriguingly, a sea shell, specifically a large dog whelk shell, was found in the chamber. That’s weird, because whelks aren’t capable of rock climbing, and the shore is a fair distance from the chamber. Finlayson told The Guardian that the cave is currently about 65 feet (20 meters) above sea level, “so clearly somebody took it up there some time before 40,000 years ago.” The shell is “already a hint that people have been up there,” he added.

Archaeological investigations at Vanguard Cave will continue, as will the search for burial sites within the cave complex. Future discoveries could shed new light on Neanderthals, a group of humans that died out some 40,000 years ago and possibly as late as 32,000 years ago. Gorham’s Caves at Gibraltar are considered the final hold-out of the Neanderthals.

More: Like Neanderthals, Early Humans Endured a Frigid Europe.