Previous excavations at Shanidar Cave
The first archaeological excavations at Shanidar Cave were directed by Dr Ralph Solecki of the Smithsonian Institution and later of Columbia University, USA. Solecki's crew included palaeoanthropologist T. Dale Stewart, and archaeologists Phil Smith and George Maranjian, as well as a team of local workmen, while Rose S. Solecki, Ralph's wife, led excavations at the nearby early farming site Zawi Chemi Shanidar.
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The team dug a large trench in the centre of the cave, reaching bedrock at 14m below the surface in the northern end of the trench (known as the ‘deep sounding’). They used dynamite to break up some of the large rocks that had fallen from the ceiling of the cave. During Solecki's excavations, the cave was inhabited in the winter months by shepherds and herders, who migrated with their animals to the higher parts of the Zagros mountains in the summer.
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Ralph and Rose Solecki outside the Police Station in Shanidar Village, circa 1956-1957. Series 1.7 Photographs and Slides 1950– 2017, Box 56, Folder ‘Shanidar Photographs (Some Color), circa 1951-1960’, Ralph S. and Rose L. Solecki papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Image digitized by Sophia Carroll.
Plan of Shanidar Cave, showing the archaeological trench (dark grey, centre) and shelters and corrals of the people living in the cave. Image: Ralph Solecki.
Ralph Solecki identified a whole sequence of layers in the cave from modern times right back to the Palaeolithic (‘Stone Age’). To summarise his findings, he called the lowers levels ‘Layer D’ and identified them by the Mousterian stone tools they contained. The first modern humans, Homo sapiens, were associated with Layer C, which was characterised by Upper Palaeolithic or ‘Baradostian’ stone tools.
Right: Schematic section drawing of the archaeological layers excavated at Shanidar Cave by Ralph Solecki
Shanidar 4, 6, 8 and 9
Shanidar 1
Shanidar 5
Shanidar 3
The Shanidar Cave Neanderthals
In 1953, Ralph Solecki’s team found the first Neanderthal remains, those of a baby, at approximately 8 metres below the surface. Each Neanderthal individual found by Solecki's team was eventually given a number, and this individual later became known as Shanidar 7.
Over the next 7 years, the team found the remains of eight more Neanderthal men, women and children. They fall into two broad time periods when Neanderthals were using the cave - approximately 45,000-50,000 years ago (Shanidar 1, 3 and 5) and approximately 75,000 years ago (Shanidar 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9).
The study of the Neanderthal remains was conducted by Dr T. Dale Stewart, and then by Professor Erik Trinkaus who published a landmark book on the remains, ‘The Shanidar Neanderthals’, in 1983.
Left: Solecki's excavation in 1960, showing T. Dale Stewart excavating Shanidar 4 and the location of some of the other Shanidar Cave Neanderthals
Compassion and care?
Several of the Neanderthals from Shanidar Cave provide important evidence for Neanderthal compassion and care of their fellow people.
Shanidar 1 suffered extensive injuries during his life, including a head injury that probably blinded him in his left eye, a paralysed right arm that had multiple fractures and had been lost (perhaps amputated) above the elbow, fractures to his foot bones, deafness, and an infected collar bone. That he survived to old age (~45 years) might suggest he received extensive care from his fellow Neanderthals.
Shanidar 3 had a puncture wound in his ribs that had partially healed at the time he died. A stone projectile like a spear pierced his chest and may have punctured his lung. The bone had started healing around the wound before he died, showing he survived for at least a few months.
Left: The skull of Shanidar 1, showing an injury to the left eye. Courtesy of Professor Erik Trinkaus. Below: Rib of Shanidar 3 showing evidence of a puncture wound that had began to heal. Courtesy of the Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
Buried on a bed of flowers? Shanidar 4
The skeleton of Shanidar 4 in situ, lying in a crouched position. Series 1.7 Photographs and Slides 1950– 2017, Box 56, Folder ‘Shanidar IV and Views, circa 1951-1960, 1999’, Ralph S. and Rose L. Solecki papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Image digitized by Molly Kamph.
The "Flower Burial": Shanidar 4
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Another famous discovery at Shanidar Cave was the so-called 'flower burial'. These were the remains of an adult male Neanderthal, lying crouched on his left side.
Pollen specialist Dr Arlette Leroi-Gourhan found an extraordinarily high concentration of pollen in samples from around the bones compared with other locations in the site. The pollen was in clumps, indicating the presence of whole flowers near the remains from at least 7 species, including batchelor’s button, woody horsetail, hollyhock, star thistle, and grape hyacinth.
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Arlette Leroi-Gourhan and Ralph Solecki both argued that the only explanation was that flowers were placed in the grave with the body – a highly controversial interpretation at the time, especially as many still considered Neanderthals to be less intelligent than our own species Homo sapiens, modern humans.
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The 'flower burial' interpretation remains controversial – some researchers argue that burrowing rodents, such as jirds, dragged the flowers into burrows they dug around the bones, while others believe the pollen came from the shoes and clothes of the excavation team, or even the flowers that Solecki recorded some workmen wore in their belts.
Other Neanderthal death rituals
Ralph Solecki also argued that while some of the Neanderthals had been killed by rock fall from the cave ceiling, some had been mourned in death as their fellow Neanderthals piled stones over their body (Shanidar 1) and held feasts in their honour (Shanidar 5). However, it is difficult to prove whether the burnt animal bones were evidence of funerary feasts rather than everyday food waste, or that the piles of stones were made by Neanderthals rather than natural accumulations.
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While these interpretations remain debated, it is now widely accepted that Neanderthals did sometimes bury their dead, and the Shanidar Cave evidence remains central to discussions about when humans first became capable of compassion and mourned their dead.
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The Proto-Neolithic cemetery
Towards the back of the cave, in 1960 the team also found the remains of 34 modern humans dating to the proto-Neolithic period – just as people started to adopt agriculture some 11,000 years ago.
The burials dated to roughly the same period as an early agricultural village site excavated by Rose S. Solecki while Ralph was excavating the cave, known as Zawi Chemi Shanidar (or Zawi Chemi dur Shanidar). The site was located nearer to the Greater Zab river and the modern village of Shanidar.
Right: Cover of the "The Proto-Neolithic Cemetery in Shanidar Cave", published by Texas A&M Press, 2004
Find out more about the Shanidar Cave Project
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Find out more about the Project's discoveries, including what the climate was like when Neanderthals and modern humans used the cave, and the kinds of evidence they left behind
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Meet the archaeologists, anthropologists and scientists bringing their expertise to help us understand life at Shanidar Cave tens of thousands of years ago
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