Seventy-Five Thousand Years Later, a Shoulder Blade Speaks

In the cool depths of a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan, beneath nearly eight meters of rock and sediment, a shoulder blade has waited for approximately 75,000 years to tell its story. It is a small bone, broad and thin, almost translucent in places. And in its center, there is a hole. A smooth, circular hole, about 15 millimeters wide, with fractures radiating outward like the memory of a forceful blow.

Archaeologists from the University of Cambridge and their colleagues believe that hole may be the earliest known evidence of a human ancestor killed by a wooden spear. The findings, published in Scientific Reports, describe the remains of an adult Neanderthal, approximately 45 years old, known as Shanidar A.

The story the bones tell is not simple. It is a story of both violence and care, of suffering endured and support given. The shoulder blade's wound appears to have been inflicted at or near the time of death, with bone fragments punched inward and no signs of healing. The researchers propose that a wooden spear struck from the front, passing through the chest cavity—puncturing a lung and likely severing major arteries—before exiting through the shoulder blade. The force and trajectory suggest what Dr. Emma Pomeroy, the study's lead author, described as a "kill shot" directed at the heart.

But Shanidar A had suffered before. Examination of the seven teeth found with the remains revealed a lower incisor split vertically, with only half remaining, and neighboring teeth twisted inward. The broken edge was covered in hardened plaque, indicating the injury occurred at least a year before death. Such damage, Pomeroy said, would have required a severe blow to the face and would have left the individual in terrible pain.

Surviving such an injury for more than a year would have required help. "They likely needed some care and support from their group with drinking, communicating, eating," Pomeroy said. The researchers suggest Shanidar A may have been fed soft food, and previous research at the site shows plants were being soaked before cooking around that time.

The remains were found in a specific location within Shanidar Cave, tucked behind a large rock near the cave entrance. Over subsequent years or decades, the remains of at least four other Neanderthals were placed directly above, suggesting deliberate burial behavior. "It suggests there's some kind of meaningful behaviour in depositing the dead there," Pomeroy said.

Not all experts are convinced by the spear hypothesis. Sofia Samper Carro, an archaeologist at the Australian National University who was not involved in the study, said the circular damage is unusual but that connecting it to a cause of death is "a bit of a stretch" without the weapon itself being found. "Bones usually break in more orthogonal, more linear fractures," she said. Pomeroy acknowledged the limitation: "We can never be sure because, of course, the wood has not preserved".

What remains, regardless of the exact cause of death, is evidence of a life that required care and a death that came violently. Professor Graeme Barker, who led the excavation, described it as "fascinating to have evidence for both compassion and violence amongst Neanderthals, our closest evolutionary cousins, embodied in this one individual". The cave continues to be excavated, with researchers examining what Neanderthals and early humans ate and how they prepared their food.

AI Image Disclaimer: This article's image is AI-generated and does not depict the actual archaeological remains or excavation site.

Sources: ABC News Australia, The Guardian, Scientific Reports (journal), Scimex, The National