An archaeological survey in a Polish cave has turned up three Neanderthal teeth, giving Mikaolaj Urbanowski and his team from Poland’s Szczecin University the opportunity to learn more about our extinct cousins.
The teeth were discovered in the Stajnia Cave, north of the Carpathian Mountains, in the southern part of the country and represent the first bodily remains of Neanderthal found in Poland. Flint tools and discarded bones of woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros, both also extinct species, were found alongside the teeth. The findings were rounded out by a hammer made of reindeer antler and bones of several cave bears sporting cut marks, indicating that they served as nourishment for the Neanderthal people who lived there.
Testing is currently being done on all items but one tooth has received the most scrutiny, proving to be the molar of a Neanderthal man about 20 years old and dating to 80,000-100,000 years ago. Researchers hope that the unexpected locale and evidence of cave bear hunting will help to prove that the fellow hominids were more efficient and intelligent hunters and wanderers then they currently receive popular credit for.
The findings were reported by the German science journal Naturwissenschaften in an online article dated January 28, 2010.
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