"It's not cannibals, it's dogs, overturning the 1939 archaeological conclusion"
No matter how authoritative archaeological conclusions are, they may also be wrong. A recent study in Italy overturned a conclusion made more than 80 years ago.
In 1939, in a quarry in Lazio, Italy, the entrance to a grotto called Guattari was accidentally discovered. In one of the caves in this small cave, workers found a well-preserved ancient skull.
It was identified as a Neanderthal skull.
Homo neanderthalensis is an extinct human species, a close relative of the ancestors of modern Europeans, because its fossils were found in the Neanderthal Valley in Germany, hence the name, referred to as "Ni people".
The Ni people began to appear about 120,000 years ago and lived throughout Europe, western Asia and northern Africa, but suddenly disappeared 24,000 years ago, which is mysterious, and the reason is still unknown.
After the skull was discovered, it was handed over to the famous archaeologist Alberto Blanc on the same day.
A few days later, the man's jaw was found a few meters away from where the skull was found.
Later, human bones and animal bones were found from time to time.
How did the skulls of the Ni people appear in this cave? Blanco concludes that he is a victim of cannibals and is eaten in caves by cannibals. Then why did the cannibals still leave their skulls in the cave? Blanco thought it was due to some kind of ritual need.
This claim was recently overturned.
The latest archaeological research has concluded that the Ni skull must have been taken into the cave by a dog, that the cave was not the residence of the Ni, and that its real owner was a hyena.
The hyena was a large carnivore that liked to travel at night and mainly lived on the carrion of dead and dead animals.
Re-dated in the early 1990s, the skull is between 53,000 and 60,000 years old.
In 2019, archaeologists from the University of Rome re-excavated the Guatari Caves, unearthing previously unexcavated sites and uncovering the remains of eight more Neanderthals. Not only human bones, but also a large number of scattered bones of other mammals, numbering nearly 10,000.
In addition, 28 stone tools and 7 bronze tools were found on the site
New archaeological reports suggest that the bones of these and other animals appeared in the cave because hyenas did it and ate them slowly.
Hyenas appeared in the cave and made it their home, starting about 65,000 years ago and leaving the cave after living in the cave for about 5,000 years.
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Figures 1, 2 and 3 are archaeological sites
Figure 4: The museum exhibits the complete remains of the Ni people
Figure 5: Restoration of the Ni figure based on the excavated remains
#Ni Fangliu##Archaeological Discoveries##Guatari Grottoes##Hyenas##Niren##意大利#
