Already, an analysis of the Neanderthals’ dental tartar has found that they mainly ate cereals, which contributed to brain growth. The researchers plan to study the fossils’ DNA to learn more about these ancient human relatives. “A collapse, perhaps caused by an earthquake, sealed this cave for more than 60,000 years, thereby preserving the remains left inside for tens of thousands of years.” “It is a spectacular find,” Rolfo tells the Guardian. The team surveying the cave also found the fossilized remains of hyenas, rhinoceroses, giant deer and wild horses. The newly discovered remains belong to one woman, seven men and a young boy. “Hyenas hunted them, especially the most vulnerable, like sick or elderly individuals,” Mario Rolfo, an archaeologist at Tor Vergata University, tells the Guardian. The new find makes the location “one of the most significant places in the world for the history of Neanderthals,” says the Italian Ministry of Culture in a statement, per a translation by the Associated Press (AP).Īs Lorenzo Tondo reports for the Guardian, Stone Age hyenas used the cave as a den and likely targeted the Neanderthals as prey. Researchers had previously found a Neanderthal skull in the cave in 1939. One of the early humans lived 90,000 to 100,000 years ago, while the others lived between 50,000 and 68,000 years ago. Archaeologists surveying the Guattari Cave, near Rome, have discovered the fossilized remains of nine Neanderthals.
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