Spy Cave
Grotte de Spy | |
Location | near Spy |
---|---|
Region | Jemeppe-sur-Sambre, Namur Province, Belgium |
Coordinates | 50°28′56″N 4°40′9″E / 50.48222°N 4.66917°E |
Type | limestone |
History | |
Material | limestone Karst |
Associated with | Neanderthals, Homo sapiens |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1886 |
Archaeologists | Marcel de Puydt, Max Lohest |
Spy Cave (
Excavations
Since the first amateur investigations during the late 19th century numerous amateur and professional archaeologists have carried out excavations and removed all sediment deposits of the cave. In 1886 Neanderthal fossils of excellent quality were discovered, which contributed to the 19th century scientific community to occasion the paradigm shift and recognize the existing fossils Engis 2 and Neanderthal 1 and embrace the notion of the mutability of species in an evolutionary context. The excavation was conducted by Liège-based archaeologist Marcel de Puydt and geologist Max Lohest. Paleontologist and zoologist Julien Fraipont published the specimen description in the American Anthropologist journal.[3]
The
The hominid skeletons discovered during the first excavations have been named Spy I, thought to be a female, and Spy 2, a young male. These were dated to around 36,000 years
Archaeogenetics
In 2018, researchers succeeded in extracting DNA from Spy94a, an upper right molar that has been directly dated to around 39,150-37,880 BP. Researchers believe that Spy94a belongs to Spy 1. DNA analysis reveals that Spy94a was male. Compared to other Neanderthals for which nuclear DNA has been extracted, Spy94a is genetically closest to Goyet Q56-1 from Goyet Caves and groups closest with other Late European Neanderthals.[10]
Mammoth Consumption
Almost 12,000 faunal remains of the Pleistocene were discovered, including mammoth, horse, cave hyena, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer, and cave bear bones.[2]
All levels contained mammoth remains, including an unusual (compared to other sites) number of molars. It has been suggested that the Neanderthal occupants brought mammoth heads to the site and ate the brains. Because many of the molars were unworn, these would have been very young or newborn calves, "killed in early spring, when plant food would not yet have been available."[11]
Anatomically modern humans
Evidence of occupation by
See also
References
- ^ "Accéder". La grotte de Spy: le sommaire (in French). Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
- ^ a b Camille Daujeard, Grégory Abrams, Mietje Germonpré, Jeanne-Marie Le Pape, Alicia Wampach, Kevin Di Modica, Marie-Hélène Moncel "Neanderthal and animal karstic occupations from southern Belgium and south-eastern France: Regional or common features?", Quaternary International Available online 27 May 2016, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.02.009. [1]
- ^ La race humaine de Neanderthal ou de Canstadt en Belgique: Recherches ethnographiques sur des ossements d'une grotte à Spy et détermination de leur âge géologique in American Anthropologist, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Jul., 1888), pp. 286-287 (review consists of 2 pages).
- ^ a b Stéphane Pirson, Damien Flas, Grégory Abrams, Dominique Bonjean, Mona Court-Picon, Kévin Di Modica, Christelle Draily, Freddy Damblon, Paul Haesaerts, Rebecca Miller, Hélène Rougier, Michel Toussaint, Patrick Semal, "Chronostratigraphic context of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition: Recent data from Belgium", Quaternary International 259:78-94 · May 2012, pp.78-94 [2]
- ISSN 0031-5362.
- S2CID 23053729.
- S2CID 205239973. See Figure S18 in the Supplementary Information.
- PMID 20934740.
- ^ Semal, P, Hauzeur, A, Rougier, H, Crevecoeur, I, Germonpré, M, Pirson, S, Haesaerts, P, Jungels, C, Flas, D, Toussaint, M, Maureille, B, Bocherens, H, Higham, T, van der Plicht, J, "Radiocarbon Dating Of Human Remains And Associated Archaeological Material", Anthropologica et Præhistorica, Vol. 123, 2012, pp.331-356
- PMID 29562232.
- .
- ^ Germonpré, Mietje; Udrescu, Mircea; Fiers, Evelyne (2013). "The Fossil Mammals Of Spy". Anthropologica et Præhistorica. 123: 289–327. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
- ISBN 978-0197263112. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
External links
- Media related to Grotte de Spy at Wikimedia Commons