Structure
discovered in 1990s is ten times older than Lascaux cave paintings
Bruniquel Cave in southwest
France was discovered by members of a local caving club in 1990. The cave’s
entrance had been sealed by a landslide during the last Ice Age, but the cavers
re-opened a narrow 30m (100 ft.) passage leading into a main gallery of chambers
rich in stalagmites and stalactites. Some 336 m (1,000 ft.) from the entrance,
they found strange complex of stone circles, constructed from broken
stalagmites. Intrigued by the discovery, the cavers brought in archaeologist Francois
Rouzaud to investigate.
The complex comprises two circles
measuring 6.7 × 4.5 m (22 ft. x 14 ft. 9 in.) and 2.2 × 2.1 m (7 ft. 3 in. x 6
ft. 10 in.) and four smaller stacks of stalagmites, two of which are located
inside the larger circle. Around 400 stalagmite fragments were used in the
construction, half of which are mid-sections with the tip and base removed. The
fragments were standardised in length, leaving no doubt that the structures had
been constructed by humans. All six structures show extensive traces of fire,
with many of the fragments showing signs of either blackening or reddening.
Rouzaud recovered a burned bone
from the largest structure, which was radiocarbon dated and found to be 47,600
years old. This predates the arrival of modern humans in the region, but not
sufficiently to rule out the possibility that they were the builders. The only other
possibility was Neanderthals – which in the 1990s, was viewed as unlikely. The
slow-to-die perception of Neanderthals as dimwits was even more prevalent then.
Sadly, before further investigations could be carried, Francois Rouzaud died
suddenly, aged just 50. With his death, all work at Bruniquel Cave ceased, and
the enigmatic stone circles were forgotten until they came to the attention of geologist
Sophie Verheyden.
Verheyden was curious as to why
nobody had attempted to date the stalagmites. 47,600 years is close to the
useful limit of radiocarbon dating, but uranium series dating can go back much
further, and speleothem is very amenable to this method. By applying it to
calcite layers that had formed over the stalagmite fragments after the complex
was built, it would be fairly straightforward to determine when they had been
broken off from the floor of the cave. Verheyden assembled a multi-disciplinary
team including archaeologist Jacques Jaubert and geologist Dominique Genty and in
2013, after obtaining permission to study the cave, they resumed the
investigation.
The results are reported in the
online edition of the journal Nature and
they suggest that the Bruniquel Cave stone circles are 176,500 years old – ten times
older than the cave paintings of Lascaux. There is not the slightest
possibility that they were the work of modern humans, who would not arrive for
another 130 millennia. The only hominins living in southwestern France at that
time were Neanderthals. The attribution of the Bruniquel constructions to Neanderthals
demonstrates that they possessed the sophistication and organisational skills to
heat and light a deep underground cavern while they built and used an elaborate
structure of a type never before seen elsewhere.
The obvious question now is was
the function of these structures, located at such a great distance from the
cave entrance? There is no evidence that the cave was used as a living habitat.
Had the stone circles dated to the Upper Palaeolithic, nobody would have
doubted that the complex was a ritual centre of some kind. It is difficult to avoid
the conclusion that it served this function for its Neanderthal builders and as
such is further evidence of their capacity for symbolic behaviour.
References:
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1.
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Jaubert, J. et al.,
Early Neanderthal constructions deep in Bruniquel Cave in southwestern
France. Nature (Online edition) (2016).
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