IPHES researchers find Neanderthal hand bones about 46,000 years old in Abauntz cave, Navarre
Fragments of the right hand of an adult male Neanderthal were found in Abauntz cave. They are the first Neanderthal remains in Navarre and fill a gap in Western Pyrenees data.
Researchers from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) have found fragments of a Neanderthal hand in the Abauntz cave, in the Ultzama valley in Navarre, in the southern Basque Country, according to actu.fr. actu.fr
actu.fractu.frOpen source ↗ The discovery was made a few weeks ago. The remains are estimated to be about 46,000 years old, and this is the first find of its kind in Navarre.
Fragments of an adult right hand
According to the specialist site hominides.com, the fragments belong to a male Neanderthal. The fossil assemblage from Abauntz includes three metacarpals and one middle phalanx of the right hand of an adult individual. Two additional bone fragments were identified as human by protein analysis. Stone tools and animal remains were also found in the same cave.
Position of the cave and significance
Abauntz is a mid-mountain cave. Its strategic position made it possible to control the passage of game and access to the northern slope of the Pyrenees, hominides.com notes.
Dr Andion Arteaga, codirector of the project, said: "For the first time, we have human remains that directly identify the presence of Neanderthals in Navarre." actu.fr
actu.fractu.frOpen source ↗ According to Arteaga, the discovery fills an important gap in paleoanthropological data from the western Pyrenees and opens new prospects for studying the populations that lived in the region during the last phases of Neanderthal history.
