Ralph S. Solecki

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE SHANIDAR CAVE NEANDERTHAL FLOWER BURIAL

Through interdisciplinary studies in the archaeological excavation of Shanidar Cave, a large cave site in northern Iraq, advances have been made in our knowledge of Neanderthal man. Skeletal remains of nine individuals of this type have been found thus far in the Middle Palaeolithic deposits of Shanidar Cave. Until years after the last field season, the most unique of the skeletal finds was that of Shanidar I, an adult male whose advanced age (for a Neanderthal) and incapacitated physical condition obviously made it necessary for him to stay close to the hearth in the compassionate and watchful keep of his group. Thus, the findings of Shanidar IV (FIGURES 1 & 2) (later known as the flower burial) and other associated Neanderthal remains within the confines of a small rocky crypt during the 1960 season was initially thought to be of lesser significance than the Shanidar I find. As it developed, the importance of the Shanidar IV skeleton was determined not with the physical anthropologist’s calipers, not by the cultural associations, but in a new direction, under the microscope. It was the clinging soil from around the burial that yielded the ancient pollens of flowers. This was an important discovery indeed, without precedent. To our knowledge, the soils from around prehistoric burials had not been previously sampled for pollens. Hence the recovery of pollens around the Neanderthal burial was in itself unusual, but to find flower pollens in quantity as in this instance was an added extraordinary dividend. Under normal circumstances, today, in many cultures, flowers and death go together, as one can see at funeral corteges and burials. The association of flowers as tokens of esteem, respect, or for the joy of looking at we associate with a reflection of the inner spirit, a sentimental touch transcending the mundane and the day-to-day world. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, “the flower has been a universal symbol of beauty in the civilizations of the world. Confucius included its cultivation among the arts that were essential to a man of culture.” We pride ourselves on thinking that we know a lot about Neanderthal man, but the association of flowers with Neanderthals adds a whole new dimension to our knowledge of him, and his humanistic nature. This is what the barrel of a microscope directed at some grains of sand on a slide has revealed. In brief, the recovery of a marvelous collection of flower pollens with Shanidar IV at one stroke significantly enlarges our comprehension of the culture of the Neanderthal and his knowledge of natural lore. One of these is that the Neanderthals took note of flowers, a knowledge outside of our wildest guesses, and moreover, buried their dead with them. This had never been perceived in prehistory before-indeed, it is only within recorded time that associations of flowers with dead are known. As if this discovery by Arlette Leroi-Gourhan, of the Muse6 de I’Homme, were not startling enough, a check of the kinds of

Contemporary Kurdish winter‐time inhabitants of Shanidar cave, Iraq

Abstract A contemporary seasonal settlement of about forty‐five Kurds with their animals at Shanidar Cave, a major archaeological site, presents an interesting study. It has possibilities for inferences to the top cultural horizons in the recent archaeological deposits in the cave. The inhabitants occupy what appear to be unusually small, flimsily constructed huts ranged around the interior of the cave. The floor area of the houses per inhabitant is much smaller than that generally found to be true in ethnographic examples quoted in the literature. The reason for the exception here appears to be that the Shanidar inhabitants sacrificed their house sizes to provide shelter for their animals in the limited cave area. Moreover, but in secondary importance, because the cave formed a primary shelter, large houses were not needed.

Pilot Study of Burin Use-Wear from Shanidar Cave, Iraq

ABSTRACT Microscopic use-wear is present on all four burins studied. The four heavily patinated chert artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic Baradostian horizon, radiocarbon date between 28,000 and 33,000 B.P. Burin usage originates and extends from the trihedral bit to adjacent facets; probable haft wear traces are present on three of the four tools.