Read More: It wasn’t in Altamira or France: the oldest cave painting on the planet (67,800 years old) appears in a remote cave in Asia and forever changes the map of human creativity<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nEarly results point to a rare time capsule from some of the last Neanderthals in Europe, long after the species had vanished from most of the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A cave room untouched since the Ice Age<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Archaeologists from the Gibraltar National Museum spent years digging through sand<\/a> at the rear of Vanguard Cave, looking for passages blocked by ancient sediments. Their work finally revealed a chamber about 13 meters long, tucked high into the cave roof and sealed off from the outside world.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOn its undisturbed floor, the team found bones of lynx, hyena, and griffon vulture, along with claw marks left by a large carnivore and a single dog whelk shell from the sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGiven that the sand sealing the chamber was 40,000 years old and the chamber was therefore older, it must have been Neanderthals,\u201d explained Clive Finlayson, director of the Gibraltar National Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gibraltar’s coast as a Neanderthal stronghold<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The chamber forms part of the wider Gorham’s Cave Complex on Gibraltar\u2019s eastern cliffs, where four adjoining caves preserve Neanderthal and early modern human life<\/a> over more than 100,000 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRead More: In 1940, a boy chased his dog through a hole in a tree and ended up finding a secret cave with more than 600 human paintings dating back 17,000 years that no one had ever seen before<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nGorham’s Cave, Vanguard Cave, Hyaena Cave, and Bennett’s Cave now open almost straight onto the sea, but in the Ice Age their entrances looked out over dry land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UNESCO<\/a> describes the complex as rare proof that Neanderthals<\/a> hunted birds and marine animals, plucked feathers for ornaments, and carved abstract engravings into cave walls, all signs of flexible thinking. <\/p>\n\n\n\nRadiocarbon dates from Gorham’s Cave suggest they were still using the site between roughly 33,000 and 24,000 years ago, making this coast one of their last European refuges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Interior](\"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/neanderthal-cave-gibraltar-vanguard-chamber-discovery-1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Archaeologists from the Gibraltar National Museum have revealed a hidden chamber sealed by sand for 40 millennia, offering a rare “time capsule” of Neanderthal life.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSeafood dinners and glue making fires<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Excavations in the caves<\/a> show that Neanderthals here were not just chasing big land animals but also harvesting the shoreline. <\/p>\n\n\n\nTheir rubbish layers are full of mussel shells and bones of fish, monk seals, and dolphins, many with cut marks from stone tools that show these animals ended up on the menu rather than as scavenged scraps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\nRead More: Hurricane forecasting is about to change forever: AI is beginning to detect sudden intensifications before they occur and could help prevent future disasters<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nIn 2024, researchers working with the Gibraltar National Museum, the University of Murcia, and the Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra described a hearth in Vanguard Cave built to heat plant material into a sticky tar used as glue for stone tipped spears. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the day, the sealed chamber and this tar workshop together sketch Neanderthals as coastal foragers and careful technicians rather than clumsy cave dwellers, and future digs may yet reveal burials or new tools inside the hidden room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main press release has been published by the Gibraltar National Museum<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imagine prying open a doorway that has not moved since Neanderthals walked along the Mediterranean shore. That is roughly what … <\/p>\n
On its undisturbed floor, the team found bones of lynx, hyena, and griffon vulture, along with claw marks left by a large carnivore and a single dog whelk shell from the sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGiven that the sand sealing the chamber was 40,000 years old and the chamber was therefore older, it must have been Neanderthals,\u201d explained Clive Finlayson, director of the Gibraltar National Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gibraltar’s coast as a Neanderthal stronghold<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The chamber forms part of the wider Gorham’s Cave Complex on Gibraltar\u2019s eastern cliffs, where four adjoining caves preserve Neanderthal and early modern human life<\/a> over more than 100,000 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Gorham’s Cave, Vanguard Cave, Hyaena Cave, and Bennett’s Cave now open almost straight onto the sea, but in the Ice Age their entrances looked out over dry land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n UNESCO<\/a> describes the complex as rare proof that Neanderthals<\/a> hunted birds and marine animals, plucked feathers for ornaments, and carved abstract engravings into cave walls, all signs of flexible thinking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Radiocarbon dates from Gorham’s Cave suggest they were still using the site between roughly 33,000 and 24,000 years ago, making this coast one of their last European refuges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Excavations in the caves<\/a> show that Neanderthals here were not just chasing big land animals but also harvesting the shoreline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Their rubbish layers are full of mussel shells and bones of fish, monk seals, and dolphins, many with cut marks from stone tools that show these animals ended up on the menu rather than as scavenged scraps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2024, researchers working with the Gibraltar National Museum, the University of Murcia, and the Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra described a hearth in Vanguard Cave built to heat plant material into a sticky tar used as glue for stone tipped spears. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of the day, the sealed chamber and this tar workshop together sketch Neanderthals as coastal foragers and careful technicians rather than clumsy cave dwellers, and future digs may yet reveal burials or new tools inside the hidden room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main press release has been published by the Gibraltar National Museum<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Imagine prying open a doorway that has not moved since Neanderthals walked along the Mediterranean shore. That is roughly what … <\/p>\nRead More: In 1940, a boy chased his dog through a hole in a tree and ended up finding a secret cave with more than 600 human paintings dating back 17,000 years that no one had ever seen before<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Seafood dinners and glue making fires<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Read More: Hurricane forecasting is about to change forever: AI is beginning to detect sudden intensifications before they occur and could help prevent future disasters<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n