Giant deer bones of the unicorn cave
The ornate giant deer bones of the Unicorn Cave is from the Middle Palaeolithic originating artifact of the Neanderthals . The decoration on the bone was made about 51,000 years ago in the period of the Moustérien . Archaeologists discovered the piece of bone in 2020 during excavations at the Unicorn Cave in the Harz Mountains . It is the oldest decorated object that has been found in Lower Saxony so far .
Location
The unicorn cave near Scharzfeld is considered a key site for research into the Neanderthal man in northern Germany . Since 2014 archaeologists from the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation have been carrying out excavations there with the company Unicornu fossile as the operator's association of the Einhornhöhle. They take place in the Jacob Friesen- Gang, in which hundreds of Neanderthal stone artefacts had already been recovered in the 1980s. The passage leads to a buried cave entrance, which is also being excavated. Its entrance portal collapsed about 10,000 years ago. Protected by the collapse of the ceiling made of stone and earth, the bone artifact lay in a well-preserved culture layer of the Neanderthal in the middle of the remains of hunting prey.
description
The find is a toe bone of a giant deer about six centimeters long, four centimeters wide and three centimeters thick . On one side it has an angular line pattern made up of six engravings that are up to three centimeters long. Another pattern of four short engravings has been incorporated into the lower area. The bone can be set up vertically. Investigations by the 3D - microscopy showed that it was not butchering marks , but intentionell is incorporated notches. Radiocarbon dating of the bone revealed an age of around 51,000 years.
The researchers assume that the Neanderthals deliberately chose the bones of the giant deer for his engraving because it was an imposing animal with almost four meters wide antlers . In order to determine the effort required for the engraving, the researchers carried out experimental archeology on the foot bone of today's cattle , which is comparable to that of the giant deer. They showed that the bone first had to be boiled in order to be able to engrave the softened bone surface with stone tools. That took around 1.5 hours for the sample.
The Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation, the University of Göttingen , the Technical University of Braunschweig , the Universities of Kiel and Tübingen and the Free University of Berlin were involved in the research project. The research was funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture as part of the “PRO Lower Saxony” program.
valuation
The decorated piece of bone is about 10,000 years older than previous finds of the Upper Palaeolithic small art , such as the Venus vom Hohlefels . This art comes from the anatomically modern man who only came to Central Europe about 40,000 years ago .
According to Thomas Terberger from the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the Seminar for Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Göttingen, the find shows that the Neanderthals, before the arrival of modern humans in Europe, produced complex characters, which suggests considerable cognitive abilities. The processed piece of bone speaks for the creative power of the Neanderthal man and that he communicated at least through symbols. It is an indication that the Neanderthals had an aesthetic sense. Terberger considers the bone from the unicorn cave to be one of the most important finds from the time of the Neanderthals in Central Europe. The paleontologist Silvia Bello from London's Natural History Museum sees the find as one of the most complex artistic forms of expression of Neanderthals.
literature
- Dirk Leder, Raphael Hermann, Matthias Hüls, Gabrielle Russo, Philipp Hoelzmann, Ralf Nielbock , Utz Böhner , Jens Lehmann, Michael Meier, Antje Schwalb, Andrea Tröller-Reimer, Tim Koddenberg, Thomas Terberger: A 51,000 year old engraved bone reveals Neanderthalers' capacity for symbolic behavior. In: Nature Ecology & Evolution. from July 5, 2021 doi: 10.1038 / s41559-021-01487-z
- Guido Kleinhubbert: The secret of the unicorn cave in: Der Spiegel from July 10, 2021, pp. 102-104 ( online behind Paywall)
Web links
- The Neanderthal as an artist? Ancestors decorated bones more than 50,000 years ago at the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation
- Photo of the engravings on the piece of bone at Bild der Wissenschaft from July 5, 2021
- Bone carving in the unicorn cave: “Dawn of Art” on ndr.de from July 6, 2021
- Archaeological find in the Harz Mountains. Neanderthals were already creative at Deutschlandfunk from July 5, 2021
- Andrew Curry: Were Neanderthals making 'art' in Europe's fabled Unicorn Cave? in National Geographic on July 5, 2021
- The Neanderthal as an artist? Ancestors decorated bones over 50,000 years ago , YouTube video from the press conference on July 6, 2021 (24:48 minutes)
- Dirk Leder, Thomas Terberger: Symbols of the Neanderthal man. The unicorn cave in the Harz Mountains. in the Lower Saxony Monument Atlas
Individual evidence
- ↑ Harz: excavations in the unicorn cave continue at ndr.de from September 1, 2020
- ↑ Einhornhöhle: Researchers on the trail of the Neanderthals at ndr.de from July 17, 2019
- ↑ Creative Neanderthals decorated bones on n-tv from July 5, 2021
- ↑ Neanderthals were artistically active at tagesschau.de from July 5, 2021
- ↑ Neanderthals as artists? - Early humans had "aesthetic sensibilities" on Welt Online from July 5, 2021
Coordinates: 51 ° 38 '6.4 " N , 10 ° 24' 14.3" E