Ancient ancestors funeral rite theory cast into doubt

Buried in a partial foetal position and surrounded by flower pollen, Shanidar 4-a Neanderthal skeleton unearthed in 1960 - prompted a dramatic reappraisal of our ancient cousins when it was discovered.

- Linda Geddes

The Shanidar flower burial, as it became known, painted a picture of Neanderthals as being far from brutish thugs - but as empathic beings who cared enough about their dead to scour the mountains for funeral bouquets. Now, fresh evidence has cast doubt on this interpretation.

Neanderthals are estimated to have died out 45,000 years ago and few physical remains of them have survived. However, during the late 1950s and early 60s, an archaeologist called Ralph Solecki discovered the skeletons of 10 Neanderthal men, women and children at Shanidar cave in the Zagros mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. Surrounding one of the males, Shanidar 4, were clumps of ancient pollen - presumed to be pollen sacs (anthers) from whole cut flowers - launching Solecki's flower burial hypothesis.

"Although the evidence was subsequently questioned, the story was spectacular enough that it is still found in most archaeology textbooks," said Prof Chris Hunt at Liverpool John Moores University.