​A team of Spanish and Portuguese archaeologists recently announced the discovery of a genuine prehistoric Neanderthal skull cult that, with all due respect, upends almost everything that was known about this extinct human species. A study by Iberian specialists published in the journal Nature draws attention to a cave in the Madrid region of central Spain, a cave that is said to contain clear evidence of the said cult.

Briefly, the cave in question is called Cueva Des-Cubierta and is part of a karst system that has been open since 1978. The difference is that this cave was identified only in 2009, and the results of archaeological research were done recently. And what do they say? I say that the cave is full of traces of Neanderthal habitation, about 40,000-42,000 years old, with over 1,400 identified stone materials belonging to the Mousterian culture, the culture of Neanderthal man.

In addition, archaeologists also discovered the extremely fragmented remains of a 3-5-year-old child, also a Neanderthal, and, what interested us, a large number of petrified animal remains. Among them, 35 fragmented skulls are of great importance, located in a certain corner of the cave, next to several fire pits.

This is where data interpretation comes in, the most interesting part of archaeology. More precisely, the mentioned specialists claim that these skulls (28 cephalopods, such as bison or wild boar, 5 deer and 2 rhinoceros) represent, due to their location in the same place, as well as the presence of horns on many of them, evidence of a skull cult. Another option would be to collect hunting trophies, which will take us there. And, experts say, this discovery would have no analogues, at least in Spain or Portugal.

Reality is not always impressive

Now I suggest looking at what a study in Nature says we also find a lizard there. The mentioned turtles completely lack the lower jaw, zygomatic bones, jaws and, apparently, teeth, elements that are not found anywhere else in the cave. Hence, the correct conclusion is that they were cut outside the cave in order to extract the soft parts (tongue, tissues, eyes, etc.).

It is particularly significant that the remains of the skulls brought to the cave were re-cut to extract the brain.

This fact can be seen both from the marks left by stone tools on the corresponding fossils and from the burn marks, which show that, at least in part, the skulls were exposed to fire. The skulls and the parts of the skulls to which they were attached were thought to be evidence of the cult I mentioned earlier.

Well, this is where the problem really arises. Be that as it may, these remains are more indicative of a slaughter camp, even if the faunal elements with abundant caloric consumption (thighs, ribs, spatulas, etc.) are missing. No, there is a correspondent, although not in the Iberian Peninsula (we will return to him later), and such examples were widely discussed in the specialized press. Let me explain.

Several caves are known in the Latium region near Rome, which have been the object of archaeological research since the first half of the 20th century. Here I will mention Grotta Guattari, Grotta Moscherini, Grotta Braille and Grotta Sant’Agostino. In all of these caves, at levels over 55,000 years old associated with the Mousterian period, there was a striking discovery of a large number of cranial remains compared to other fossil remains.

As in the Spanish cave, most come from herbivores, especially deer (Cervus elaphus and Dama dama). And, as in the last case, traces of trenches were visible on them. The difference is that in the case of the Italian caves, a possible skull cult was never seriously considered. why Since, far more likely, the presence of these skulls indicates not some belief or shamanic influence, but opportunistic hunting.

More precisely, they roamed around and brought with them the skulls of dead, sick or young animals that they could hunt, as well as the skulls of animals that had already been hunted and eaten by carnivores (in this case the skull is the last, who is eaten). Any intake of fat was important, and skulls could provide that intake, in the absence of other more substantial sources.

This hypothesis is also doubled by the fact that at the levels after 55,000 years the situation changes, and those faunal elements appear that reveal not only specialization on a certain type of game, especially adults, but also the presence in large quantities of elements important for nutrition.

And the case is not isolated. The same situation was presented by Israeli archaeologists, especially the late Ofer Bar-Yosef, perhaps the greatest prehistorian of the Near East, when he published the situation of the faunistic remains in the Tabun and Hayonim caves. Virtually all of these studies point to the existence of highly mobile, opportunistic populations that traveled long or relatively long distances in search of game and were often satisfied with what they found, namely skulls.

Similarly, Philip G. Chase, one of the leading figures in the study of prehistoric fauna and hunting patterns of the period, questioned even in his 1983 doctoral dissertation a similar situation found in the famous French cave of Combe-Grenal, where , Mousterian levels are dominated by cranial remains, especially of horses and deer. And, again, mostly necrophagy or simply an indiscriminate hunting model was discussed. So, we are not talking about any cult of skulls.

As an additional argument, I would cite the example of another Neanderthal site in France, Mauran, where the faunistic remains of more than 4,000 bison have been discovered. Can we talk about the bison cult in this case? In no case. Simply put, it was a slaughter camp where animals were slaughtered for the first time. And, by the way, today we don’t even know how those animals were slaughtered, let alone worship them.

The Neanderthal cult of the bear is also very controversial

For about 100 years, the possibility of the existence of a bear cult in various Neanderthal communities has been discussed. And the truth is that cave bear skulls have appeared in caves all over Europe, including Romania, positioned in such a way as to suggest human intervention rather than natural. Whether placed in a circle, back-to-back, or in some other shape that would suggest the actions of Neanderthal man, they fired the imagination of experts.

Later, unfortunately, most of the mentioned cases were analyzed and proved to be simple actions of natural phenomena. So, as much as we would like to believe that the Neanderthals had a cult of the cave bear, we must admit that there is no consensus on the matter.

Iberian Peninsula, separate territory

Returning to the peculiarities of the Iberian Peninsula, at least from the point of view of the Neanderthal communities that lived there over time, I will emphasize only one of the directive lines. In particular, there have never been any traces of specialized hunting for a certain type of game, which we also find in Italy.

Rather, they were indiscriminate, opportunistic types of hunting based on resources near the sites. A fact that, although omitted in a recent study in Nature, is perfectly modeled on the discovery mentioned by the archaeologists cited.

In conclusion, Spanish and Portuguese archaeologists have no definite evidence of the existence of a cult of skulls. Such a discovery would be wonderful, it would even be a paradigm shift in profile research, but they have only a cluster of fragmented fossils, cut and boiled on fire from other hands. But if they said that, it wouldn’t be effective, and maybe they wouldn’t even get into nature, right?

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