Neanderthals built mysterious French cave rings 175,000 years ago

Mysterious stone rings found in a cave in southwestern France were likely built by Neanderthals, suggesting that our ancient relatives were skilled builders and far more “human” than previously believed.

According to BBC News and National Geographic, the circles were found in Bruniquel Cave, an archaeological site located in the Midi-Pyrénées region of southern France, and were constructed from stalagmites more than 175,000 years ago.

Writing in Wednesday’s edition of the journal Nature, University of Bordeaux prehistorian and Paleolithic archaeology professor Jacques Jaubert and his colleagues wrote that these stalagmites were broken to similar lengths and specifically arranged in two oval patterns up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) high. There were also traces of fire detected around the stalagmite circles.

The stone rings are “among the oldest known well-dated constructions” made by hominins, the study authors wrote, and the fact that they had been constructed more than 330 meters from the cave’s entrance “indicates that humans from this period had already mastered the underground environment, which can be considered a major step in human modernity.”

Evidence that ancient hominins worked together on an unknown project

Although previous studies had suggested that the Bruniquel Cave structures pre-dated the arrival of modern humans in Europe roughly 45,000 years ago, scientists assumed that Neanderthals did not have the capability to engage in the kind of complex behavior required to work underground. In the new study, however, Jaubert and his fellow researchers suggest otherwise.

“The origin of the structures is undeniably human. It really cannot be otherwise,” the Bordeaux professor told the Associated Press, explaining that his team’s work ruled out the possibility that the cave structure was assembled by animals, such as bears and wolves whose bones were found at the mouth of the cave, or that the formation of the stone rings was the product of nature.

Jaubert added that the Neanderthals must have had a special “project” in mind to travel so deep into a cave that lacked natural light, and suggested that they formed groups and worked together to explore the underground, using fire to help them find their way around. An organized effort like this would have been “exceptional,” he said, though the reasons behind such excursions are still unclear.

Nonetheless, as paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London told National Geographic, the discovery “provides clear evidence that Neanderthals had fully human capabilities in the planning and the construction of ‘stone’ structures, and that some of them penetrated deep into caves, where artificial lighting would have been essential.”

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Image credit:Etienne FABRE – SSAC

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