Episode 408
Shanidar Cave in northern Iraqi Kurdistan continues to transform our understanding of Neanderthals. New evidence is revealing how our extinct human relatives cared for the wounded in their societies.
There is evidence of tens of thousands of years of Neanderthal habitation in Shanidar Cave, so it鈥檚 revealed a lot about their lives over the years. Since the 1950s we鈥檝e discovered the remains of a Neanderthal baby, evidence of funerary practices – and even the types of food they ate.
And now a stunning facial reconstruction has been made from one of the skeletons found in the cave, allowing us to connect much more deeply to these ancient people.
To discuss all of this and more, Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet are joined by Emma Pomeroy, palaeoanthropologist at the University of Cambridge who鈥檚 been instrumental in this work.
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Image Credits:
Shanidar I’s skull: By Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
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