Gorham cave

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Gorham cave
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem
Gorham's Cave.jpg
View from the sea to the cave
National territory: United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Type: Culture
Criteria : iii
Reference No .: 1500
UNESCO region : Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 2016  ( session 40 )
Gorham cave

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Location: Rock of Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Geographic
location: 		36 ° 7 '13.4 "  N , 5 ° 20' 31.5"  W Coordinates: 36 ° 7 '13.4 "  N , 5 ° 20' 31.5"  W.
Gorham Cave (Gibraltar)
Gorham cave
Discovery: 1907
Overall length: 40 meters
Particularities: Neanderthal cave
Website: official page

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The Gorham Cave is a 40 meter long cave with a spacious front area in the coastal mountains of Gibraltar , the exit of which offers a wide view over the Mediterranean Sea. At the rear there is a narrow passage that leads to a kind of tomb.

The Gorham Cave is an important archaeological site because it was inhabited by Neanderthals for thousands of years during the Middle Paleolithic . Found knife blades , scrapers for processing fur, bones , shells , among other remains of turtles, seals , dolphins , and pine nuts . It has been explored by archaeologists since the early 1950s and was named after Major A. Gorham, who explored a fissure in the back of the cave in 1907.

Several remains of charcoal are 28,000 years old, according to measurements by Clive Finlayson, director of the Gibraltar Museum. Based on the location, the researchers estimate that a group of around 15 people lived in the cave. These are the most recent finds to date that have been ascribed to Neanderthals, the most recent specimen being dated to only 23,360 years ± 320 years before today. Whether it is, as the British paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer who took part in the excavation thinks, the “last outpost” of the Neanderthals before they became extinct, is open. The last find could also come from a campfire of anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) and be around 32,000 years old.

Since 2012 the cave has been on UNESCO's tentative list for the United Kingdom. In 2016 it was declared a World Heritage Site.

In September 2014, a specialist magazine described an area of ​​around 300 square centimeters on which eight diamond-shaped intersecting lines were carved into the rock. This cross-hatching was dated to an age of at least 39,000 years ( cal BP ) and interpreted as evidence of abstract thinking and expressiveness of the Neanderthals ("abstract thought and expression").

literature

  • Chris B. Stringer et al .: Neanderthal exploitation of marine mammals in Gibraltar. In: PNAS . Volume 105, No. 38, 2008, pp. 14319-14324, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.0805474105
  • Matthias Schulz: Vanishing Point Gibraltar . In: Der Spiegel . No. 38 , 2006, p. 168 ( online ).

See also

Web links

Commons : Gorham's Cave  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ J. d'A. Waechter (1964): The excavations at Gorham's Cave, Gibraltar, 1951-1954. In: Bulletin of the Institute of Archeology. London 4: 189-221.
  2. ↑ J. d'A. Waechter (1951): Excavations at Gorham's Cave, Gibraltar. In: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (New Series). Volume 17, No. 1, 1951, pp. 83-92, doi: 10.1017 / S0079497X00018806
  3. ^ Joao Zilhão and Paul Pettitt : On the new dates for Gorham's Cave and the late survival of Iberian Neanderthals. In: Before Farming. 2006/3, full text (PDF)
  4. ↑ Ceri Shipton et al .: Variation in Lithic Technological Strategies among the Neanderthals of Gibraltar. In: PLoS ONE. 8 (6): e65185, 2013, doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0065185
  5. ↑ Gorham's Cave Complex, Tentative List (English)
  6. ↑ Gorham's Cave Complex . UNESCO
  7. ↑ Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal et al .: A rock engraving made by Neanderthals in Gibraltar. In: PNAS . Online advance publication of September 2, 2014, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1411529111
    The Neanderthal as an artist: Abstract art for the cave. On: faz.net of September 3, 2014