ABSTRACT
When the Neanderthals quite literally exploded onto the scientific scene in 1856, the remains – in this case of an adult male – had probably originally been buried ~40,000 years ago. The remains were thrown into the air by the dynamite of the limestone quarrymen in the Neander Thal (Neander Valley) about 13km east of Düsseldorf, Germany. How touching it is that the first remains of a fossil human to be recognised by science probably derive from a burial. The original find comprised a calotte, clavicle, scapula, five ribs, two humeri, radius, two ulnae, two femora and part pelvis, and recent excavations of the cave’s spoil heap located a left zygomatic and part maxillary body and a right temporal bone that refits onto the calotte (Schmitz et al. 2002, 133–43). In addition to these, other remains, which do not refit onto the remains of Neanderthal 1, nevertheless probably derive from it (ibid., 13343). Overall – especially given the action of dynamite – the remains seem to have been complete enough to suggest burial. The new excavations have revealed for the first time the presence of a second individual, represented by four postcranial specimens that duplicate elements already known for Neanderthal 1 (Schmitz and Thissen 2000; Schmitz et al. 2002). This shows that at least one other individual was deposited in the cave. The dimensions of one of the remains of Neanderthal 2 – a segment of a right humerus – shows that it was smaller and more gracile than Neanderthal 1, which is usually assumed to be male. Finally, a deciduous molar (NN 50) is pre-adult and therefore represents a third individual. Direct AMS radiocarbon dating of remains from both Neanderthal 1 and 2 show that they were chronometrically contemporary at ~40,000 BP.
