​​Neanderthals built complex underground structures 176,000 years ago--& no one knows why

Science Alert

BEC CREW
26 MAY 2016

SORRY, PLEASE SKIP TO THE NATURE LINK BELOW. The original link 404's
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Original link removed due no replacement link with that source. Use the NATURE link, please.

Supplemental Original Nature link to PDF:
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www.nature.com... tQjlBdDYCcj3H6vSBUUVNSkp4HDx3BhNAwz89zYU-jvu5ydpb9vYEFZKT8UXKtNC_o85qIM_DtOHbL0X1DroIT3vGFybqMNIWGCXswcDndQ-_eF7fbkZUX_xzq5q7jziPFqz7-9wwf-7p8Ia14WCiq B2SnKLq2ukrrjq0KHtoSfxYuDK&tracking_referrer=www.latimes.com
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Deep inside a dark, underground cave 50 km from the city of Toulouse, France, researchers have uncovered the remains of six ancient structures crafted from stalagmites. The find forces us to rethink our assumptions about these archaic humans, because what they appear to have built is far beyond anything we thought they were capable of.
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The ring-shaped structures were found 300 metres deep inside Bruniquel Cave in southwest France, and one is thought to have stood almost 7 metres wide. The twisted corridors of this cave are pitch black this far from the entrance, so the Neanderthals would have had to construct everything by firelight.
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At this stage, what isn’t exactly clear is why this community appears to have banded together to achieve this complex, difficult task in an inhospitable environment. If they needed shelter from the elements and protection from predators, they were already inside a deep cave, why go to all the trouble of building a structure within a structure?
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Things to make one go "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" in the night.
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Therefore what seems still rather obscure.
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I doubt they were just "playing house."
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I think it does indicate that they had some emotionally connected motivation to go to such trouble.
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It doesn't seem likely that they were setting up some sort of darkened maze test with which to sort through new corporate VP candidates. LOL.
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Maybe some of our brilliant ATSers will come up with a clever idea about the purpose of such structures.
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a reply to: BO XIAN

Could just be the old game of rich and poor has been playing out for a long time, the elites of the time building their bunkers to escape the wrath of the masses

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

LOLOL.

Except that it doesn't really look like a bunker . . . more like a ceremonial design of some sort, imho.

But what do I know. I'm not REALLY that old. LOL.

Awesome find
Here is a link to their video. www.nature.com...
It boggles the mind to think that someone built this encampment 170,000 thousand years ago. One of the things that I ponder is why? Were they too being hunted? Why the perimeter? Was it to keep something out, or to keep children from running off? There are 2 circles formed by the stalactites. The larger one is about 3 times larger and has maybe two fire/cooking pits. The smaller one has several of the stalactites (used in the formation of the wall) removed and scattered away. What could have done this, and why?
Another excellent and thought provoking Op. SnF

a reply to: Violater1

Yeah. Thanks for the link.

Great questions.

Hadn't thought about a children's corral. LOL.

Would the scattered components signify some sort of ceremonial . . . something . . . like a Dineh sand painting is destroyed after the ceremony?

a reply to: BO XIAN

Linky no worky for me but interesting find.


Possibly ritual ?

A 3D reconstruction of the Bruniquel Cave structures.

news.nationalgeographic.com...

a reply to: gortex

Sorry about the link. Thanks for notifying me.

Yeah, ritual seems most plausible . . . perhaps by a select few--or all the men--or all the women???

I know it's a mundane explanation, but perhaps they were just super bored. The only reason that makes sense (at least from our idea of early human-like folk) is that they were hiding from something. To go that deep in a cave for anything other than to hide or possibly chase animals they were hunting doesn't fit our current ideas.

My guess is they were hiding from another group of Neanderthals that threatened them greatly. As the days, weeks, months passed they had to be bored.

Grog probably got angry and whacked a stalagmite (or is it stalagtite? Whichever one hangs from the cieling) with his club and it fell to the ground. Bogdor saw this and thought "rock smash look fun! Me do too!" and followed suit. Soon, many joined in the festivities and eventually there were many big rocks on the ground.

Hockdu, the resident "intellect" notices that the rocks are almost in a pattern. He says "hey, look pretty shape... We make picture!" so out of painful boredom, the lot of them drag the rocks around to make cool shapes because, what else ya gonna do??

It's also entirely possible that it is the first place an early humany thing discovered a certain fungus they shouldn't have eaten, and consequently discovered spirituality and told everyone it was a place of great importance.

Honestly, the possibilities are endless. For me, this story just confirms my personal hypothesis that there have been small pockets of quite intelligent homo sapien sapien-ish critters for way, way longer than the modern science guy tells us.

a reply to: seaswine

Hmmmmmm . . . Interesting idea.

Though I doubt such a motivation would be all that emotionally rich and energizing.

a reply to: BO XIAN

True.

The unfortunate truth is that we most likely will never know for sure. Which stinks because I love these mysterious, but is also cool BECAUSE it's a mystery.

Us "advanced" human folk have a lot of discovering of our roots to do before we can really, truly understand what great grandpa x 2000 was really thinking.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

punkinworks10 Posted it here a couple of days ago.
whoops!

Sorry guys.

Please add your comments to the existing thread:

Bruniquel Cave's Mysterious Neanderthal stone circles.