In a cave Bruniquel (Tarn-et-Garonne) cavers and scientists have discovered constructions made by the Neanderthals there 176,500 years! A real surprise …
“If I had heard of these discoveries it a few years ago, I would have been skeptical to say the least,” said the French pre-historian Jacques Jaubert. “Without having seen it, we would not have believed,” outbid Sophie Verheyden Belgian specialist in climate reconstruction from sedimentary deposits of underground cavities. In one of the halls of the CNRS in Paris arranged for the press conference on this occasion on May 24, the two scientists together with Dominique Genty, director of research at the French organization, are entering a smile. Part of the European press awaits their revelations, they will live up to the excitement that prevails.
400 stalagmites
At the head of a group of French and Belgian researchers supported by the Ministry of Culture, they discovered, in Bruniquel in the Tarn-et-Garonne, the oldest underground cave built by humans … Neanderthals. The cavity, frequented by our ancestors there are about 176 500 years, has even unveiled constructions composed of about 400 stalagmites and located 300 meters from the entrance. That’s not all: the combustion demonstrate structures that were used at that time the fire to light in a dark place, and well before Homo sapiens
“Many! passages in the cave have not been studied for the sake of conservation and currently very little about that time but this information add a line to the scenario of the human lifestyle Neanderthal, “gloats Jacques Jaubert. And there is much to celebrate because, until now, evidence of attendance to a cave by humans dating back 38 000 years, with the site of Chauvet (Ardèche).
make these discoveries, scientific Sophie Verheyden used the method of uranium-thorium on carrots stalagmites. What was the surprise of the research group when they discover that these structures date actually there are 176,500 years, not 47,000 years BC as indicated by the early work on the site mid 1990s.
A place of worship?
also, if the place “suitable for archaeological conservation” has not revealed human remains, it can not be said with regard to animal traces. They are brown bear bones that have helped fuel the fires in the cave. “At best, we will also find one or two flints,” still hopeful Dominique Genty. Despite these official and historical ads, scientists show currently very cautious about the causes of the presence of Neanderthals 300 m from the exit. Why had they gone so far in the cave? Jacques Jaubert provides one answer: “It was not to live.” The pre-historian rather refers to “cultic reasons”.
Discovery in 1990 with private owners in this small village of about 620 inhabitants, the Cave of Bruniquel could still deliver many secrets. “Documentation work should finish and general description of the structure but these revelations are only a step,” warns Jacques Jaubert …
The “spéléofacts”
These are two circles tangent, one of ten meters, the other three, made with pieces of stalagmites, which attracted the attention of scientists. He could be a natural formation, but a precise construction, with broken pieces of rock or cut, calibrated and harmoniously arranged and supported by wedges. The scientific team has developed a new concept of “spéléofacts” to name the 400 broken stalagmites and arranged on 112 meters!
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