The Neanderthal Museum Foundation serves society as a mediating platform between complex science and socially relevant questions about human evolution. On this page we give you an insight into our current research projects, our collections and an overview of publications and conferences. You will find a detailed insight into our research strategy at the bottom of this page.
You can find contact persons for the individual research projects directly under the respective project. Research Coordinator Anna Riethus will be happy to answer any questions you may have about our research and for enquiries about cooperation: riethus@neanderthal.de or 02104 9797-18.
Within his PhD at the University of Cologne and under the supervision of Jun.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Maier, Robin John will investigate the development of stone projectile points used as inserts in hunting weapons (spears and arrows) during the Upper Palaeolithic (43.000-11.700 BC). This research is funded by the Helga Raddatz Scholarship of the NRW Stiftung.
The research project focusses on the so-called shouldered points. These first appear around 29.000 years ago and have been part of the equipment of the last Ice Age hunters on the European continent for almost 18.000 years. They are therefore particularly suitable for examining long-term developments of stone artefacts.
The following research questions will be tackled within this project:
With the help of a programming code called PyREnArA, which was written by John in cooperation with Florian Linsel from the Institute for Informatics at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle (Saale)-Wittenberg, the tips of well-dated sites are selected from the research literature and examined with regard to their metrical characteristics. These features are used in statistical calculations to reveal trends that traditional methods cannot reveal.
Maier, A., John, R., Linsel, F., Roth, G., Antl‑Weiser, W., Bauer, L., Buchinger, N., Cavak, L., Hoffmann, H., Puschmann, J., Schemmel, M., Schmid, V. C., Simon, U. & Thomas, R. (2023). Analyzing Trends in Material Culture Evolution – a Case Study of Gravettian Points from Lower Austria and Moravia. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-023-00145-z
Robin John - john@neanderthal.de
The Upper Pleistocene hominin diversity and adaptation to the new environments of southwestern Asia are basic issues in Paleoanthropology. Due to its location, the Iranian Plateau in southwestern Asia functioned as crossroads for hominin migrations between Africa, Europe, Central Asia and the far East, thus playing an influential role in the history of human evolution. In addition, proximity and the intertwining of two different biogeographical realms of Palearctic and Saharo-Arabian zones in the Iranian Plateau, potentially, played an important role in biocultural exchanges and evolution of our lineage. The proposed project focuses on Sorheh Rockshelter of southern piedmonts of the Alborz Mountains located at the intersection of these two realms. This special condition hypothesizes that this region was repeatedly populated by different hominins arriving from the north and west: Neanderthals from Southern Caspian Corridor and Zagros Mountains, and from the south: Homo sapiens from inner parts of the Iranian Central Plateau, during long period of MIS 4-3 towards MIS 2.
The preliminary investigations at Sorheh indicates novel hominin behavioral and settlement systems, known as Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) in the Levant, eastern Europe and Siberia. The analysis of its material culture will be carried out by applying the most updated and novel scientific proxies. In addition to lithic techno-typological, micromorphological and faunal analyses, sedaDNA, ZooMS and stable isotope are employed for the first time. Collecting samples for absolute dating including OSL and 14C dates is an important foundation for this research, for Sorheh provided the first chronological history on the IUP in the Iranian Plateau. The project plans to reassess stratified lithic collections suspended to contain IUP materials including Warwasi and Bawa Yawan rockshelters in the Zagros Mountains of Palearctic and Mirak open air site in the Iranian Central Plateau of the Saharo-Arabian realm.
A combination of these methods will unravel for the first time, a physiogeographic, chronostratigraphic and anthropogenic picture of the IUP in the Iranian Plateau. Given that, this research can aid in deciphering the IUP hominins both physically and behaviorally.
Dr. Elham Ghasidian - ghasidian@neanderthal.de
The Neanderthal Museum is part of the project "Neanderthals and Us: how the golden age of Neanderthal research challenges human self-understanding” der Erasmus Universität Rotterdam und der Universität Leiden (2023-2026).
The interdisciplinary project combines expertise from Paleolithic archaeology, biological psychology and philosophy to explore how changes in Neanderthal research and Neanderthal representations in creative genres (exhibitions, novels, films, cartoons) challenge our self-understanding as humans.
Over the next two years, our Citizen panel "Paleo experts" will participate in a total of 6 community meetings. In workshops, discussion groups, creative meetings and Q&A sessions, the members of the "Paleo experts" can actively participate in the research conversation and discuss their ideas, interests and approaches with the researchers.
Dustin Welper - welper@neanderthal.de
The project is made possible by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO):
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Further partners are:
‘GreenMuseumHub’ is a network of universities and museums in Egypt, Germany and Tunisia that exchange ideas on ecological, economic and social sustainability and strengthen each other. The aim is to empower people and institutions to think and act in a sustainable way. The Department of Museology/Museum Studies at the University of Würzburg is working together with Helwan University in Cairo (Egypt) and the Université de la Manouba in Tunis (Tunisia).
Regular digital video conferences, workshops and teaching events as well as physical meetings ensure the necessary exchange of experience and knowledge at eye level. These so-called GreenMuseumCamps take place once a year, alternating between the partner countries, while a jointly planned, multilingual pop-up exhibition in both physical and digital form brings the topic of sustainability to civil society.
The network includes museums of different sizes and specialisations (Egyptology, archaeology, architectural monuments, history, technology, prehistory). In addition, there are three private sector agencies, two non-governmental organisations, a state authority, two higher education institutions and an educational institution with state and municipal sponsorship.
The project is funded from 2023 to 2026 by the German Academic Exchange Service/DAAD in the ‘Ta'ziz Partnership’ funding line.
DAAD (via the University of Würzburg), ‘Ta'ziz Partnership’ funding line
https://www.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/museologie/
Thanks to Erasmus+, houses like ours have the opportunity for travelling & exchange, which provides our entire team with inspiring impulses for creative new educational offers and projects. The experiences and best practices shared with our team serve us in the medium term as a concrete basis for the development of new, innovative projects. Our contacts acquired on the mobilities and the new intercultural competencies will form the basis for the design of sustainable and innovative adult education in our museum operations in the future. In the long term, by participating in Erasmus+, we are actively contributing to creating a sustainable and future-oriented place of education for Germany and Europe. We are excited about the opportunities these mobilities offer us to turn our vision of digitally supported sustainable adult education into reality.
More about the project: Search - Erasmus+ (europa.eu)
Funded by the European Union. However, the views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or NaBiBB. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority NaBiBB can be held responsible.
Using advanced 3D technologies, we create precise digital copies of original artefacts that can be used in a variety of ways. They enable measurements, classifications and comparisons without damaging the original. Applications include presentations, spatial analyses, museum copies and didactic materials. The results are made available online in the digital archive. Further information on this topic can be found under the tab ‘DISAPALE: Culture in 3D’.
For the protection of valuable artefacts, it is important to keep direct contact by scientists and museum staff to a minimum. New 3D technology makes possible the creation of precise digital copies that can be put to a diverse range of uses. Measurements, typological classification, and stylistic comparisons can be carried out using the copies. Sections taken through the digital copies do not damage the original. Such copies are also of use in presentations, spatial analysis, the creation of further copies for museums, and teaching.
3D Documentation of Archaeological Finds
Since 2010 the Neanderthal Museum has owned a structured light scanner with which objects can be scanned to produce digital 3D models. The purchase of this scanner has made an important contribution toward the expansion of the museum's collection of digital objects and to the research possibilities in prehistoric archaeology. It is being used to systematically scan a variety of object types: stone and bone artefacts, decorative artefacts, and cave art, as well as in situ finds. The Neanderthal Museum exchanges information gained with this technology, and new developments in its use, with other institutions.
If you have any questions about this collection, please contact the following colleague: Anna Riethus - riethus@neanderthal.de
The digital collection NESPOS was developed within the framework of the EU-funded project TNT (The Neanderthal Tools, EU programme "Digicult"). It was designed as an internationally accessible online database and collected anthropological and archaeological data related to Neanderthal research and human evolution, including 3D scans, CT scans, scanned literature, site information, images and tables. The focus of the collection was on 3D objects.
To protect valuable original finds, direct contact with artefacts by scientists and museum staff must be kept to a minimum. Fortunately, 3D techniques can be used to create accurate digital copies of original finds that can be used in a variety of ways. The majority of surveys, typological classifications and stylistic comparisons can be carried out on the digital copy. Likewise, cuts through the digital object do not damage the original. Our 3D models are also used for education and outreach as well as museum exhibitions and digital applications.
The NESPOS archive was co-created by its users, who could upload data from their own resources. In 2019, the NESPOS website had to be taken offline. All collected data was backed up by a research assistant of the Neanderthal Museum and is available online in our Digital Archive since February 2022.
If you have any questions about this collection, please contact the following colleague: Dr. Bärbel Auffermann - auffermann@neanderthal.de
The Wendel Collection comprises some 3,000 images of Ice Age cave art from around 50 caves in France and Spain.
From 1964 until his death in 1980, the collector Heinrich Wendel was head of set design at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and one of Germany's most renowned stage designers. The design of spaces through light and projection art was a central part of his artistic work. With this in mind, he made several trips to the Franco-Cantabrian region between 1964 and 1970 with the aim of finding inspiration for his work in prehistoric cave art.
In doing so, he proceeded highly professionally and with scientific meticulousness according to a uniform concept. He also took photographs in the non-public areas of the caves. In the course of time, an extensive photo archive of about 3,000 pictures was created. This photo archive not only documents the state of conservation of cave art from around 50 caves, but it also reveals the perspective of the stage designer: cave art as a means of transforming a given natural space into architecture, into a stage.
More than 20 years after Heinrich Wendel's death, this photo archive was entrusted to Neanderthal Museum for scientific processing and conservation. From 2001-2002, the collection was processed thanks to funding from the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
The digitisation was made possible by the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek as part of the "Neustart Kultur" programme funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM).
If you have any questions about this collection, please contact the following colleague: Saskia Hucklenbruch - hucklenbruch@neanderthal.de
Neanderthal Museum has an extensive collection of casts which provides an overview of the morphological development of the genus Homo in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Comparable collections with high-quality casts within Europe are only available at the Natural History Museum, London and the Musée de L'Homme, Paris.
Our cast collection is located in the collection room of the “Stone Age Workshop”. It is kept organized by species and chronological order. We are happy to provide you with access and advice for study purposes on request. Since October 2007, the collection has also been made accessible to our visitors within the framework of guided tours, further education events and school programmes.
Since 2004, the Neanderthal Museum's cast collection has played an important role in a research project funded by the European Union on the digital reconstruction of Neanderthals (TNT) and the resulting database NESPOS.
If you have any questions about this collection, please contact the following colleague: Melanie Wunsch - wunsch@neanderthal.de
Already since the old museum’s founding in 1937, Neanderthal Museum has been taking care of small collections of ice-age stone tools and faunal remains. Over the years, this collection has been expanded by donations such as the Fiedler Collection or the Schmude Collection. As a result, the museum now has material on Stone Age technology from Europe and North Africa.
Since February 2022, we have made our collections available online in our Digital Archive. Our artefact and faunal remains collection will be digitised and added to our online archive in the coming years.
If you have any questions about this collection, please contact the following colleague: Melanie Wunsch - wunsch@neanderthal.de
Become a member of the Neanderthal Society or use one of the many other ways to support our research in the long term.
The Neanderthal Museum has an extensive media library with specialist literature and films on the Ice Age colonisation of Europe and Western Asia. A large number of specialist journals and monographs can be consulted by both specialists and interested laypersons. To arrange an appointment, please contact Saskia Hucklenbruch: hucklenbruch@neanderthal.de or 02104 9797-16
Our Paleo-Experts, who originated from the ‘Neanderthals & Us’ project, explore how developments in Neanderthal research and in exhibitions, novels, films etc. challenge our understanding of ourselves as humans. If you want to find out more, we recommend taking a look at the Paleo-Experts website.
The Neanderthal Museum Foundation serves society as a mediating platform between complex science and socially relevant questions about human evolution. Research at the Neanderthal Museum promotes interdisciplinary exchange between archaeological, biological, sociological and philosophical research.
With its work, the museum and its research strengthen the knowledge and awareness of human evolution in Germany. Research at Neanderthal Museum always takes place in close exchange with the museum's educational work.
As researchers and museum staff, we work in an approachable and understandable way. We are open to participation and, especially in our visitor research, we are in dialogue with those affected. Our museological research sets new standards for science communication in Germany and constantly improves the accessibility of knowledge for a broad public.
With our expertise from the research fields of archaeology and anthropology, as well as a wide range of mediation methods, we actively stimulate discussions on complex and current social issues such as migration and climate change.
Our museum and research team is always interested in exchange and networking with other museums and research institutions. We also support the mobility of our museum staff and help build skills for the job market.
You would like to start a project in or with Neanderthal Museum? Please contact our research coordinator (riehtus@neanderthal.de) with your project or cooperation idea.
The Museums Association of North Rhine-Westphalia is committed to museums in NRW, their impact on society and their perception in politics. The association advocates good framework conditions for museum work and is a partner and driving force for museums in the Rhineland, Westphalia and Lippe regions.
Ecsite connects, inspires and empowers organisations and professionals engaged in science, increasing the reach and impact of their work. The network brings together more than 320 organisations (museums, science centres, etc.), all committed to inspiring people about science and technology and driving science engagement through professional events, projects and publications.
Our museum director Dr Bärbel Auffermann is a member of the Ecsite board.
Ice Age Europe, established in 2013, is a vibrant network dedicated to unravelling the mysteries and showcasing the wonders of the Ice Age period that profoundly shaped the European landscape and its inhabitants. Originating from a shared passion for exploring the rich heritage of the Ice Age era, the network's genesis lies in the collaborative efforts of like-minded institutions and experts seeking to delve deeper into this fascinating epoch. Neanderthal Museum functions as the network's lead partner.
At Network for Visitor Research e.V., we aim to establish well-founded research and strengthen the future of museums in the German-speaking region. Through intensive exchange, professional networking with university and non-university institutions, and targeted training initiatives, we promote visitor and audience research. For museums, with museums, and from within them. Neanderthal Museum is an active member of the association.
NFDI4Objects is an initiative to build a multidisciplinary consortium within the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). The initiative is aimed at researchers and practitioners whose work focuses on the material heritage of around three million years of human and environmental history and is dedicated to the challenges of modern research data infrastructures. Neanderthal Museum participates as project partner.
We have been working closely with the Seokjang-ri Museum in Gongju, South Korea, for many years. This cooperation includes regular contributions to scientific publications as well as the opening of a joint special exhibition in 2018. Recently, our partnership was sealed by an official memorandum with the city government of Gongju. The Seokjang-ri Museum was opened in 2006 to familiarise the general public with human evolution and the Korean Palaeolithic period. It offers a permanent exhibition as well as changing special exhibitions, an open-air archaeological park, a learning centre and a memorial hall for Dr Son Bo-Gi, the archaeological founder of the Seokjang-ri site. The museum also organises the annual World Paleolithic Festival in May and offers guided tours, workshops and international conferences.
Roughly halfway between Asyut (in the Nile Valley) and the Farafra Oasis, on the Egyptian limestone plateau (also known as the Abu Muharik Plateau, after the dune system of the same name), lies Djara Cave with its rock art. The cave was first discovered in 1873 by the German adventurer and explorer Gerard Rohlfs during a research expedition into the Libyan Desert. As he crossed the limestone plateau on the way from Asyut to the Farafra Oasis, the Egyptian caravan leaders brought his attention to the cave and a bir (Arabic: well) not far from the caravan route. In the report of his travels, published in 1875 and including a map with his route precisely marked and descriptions of the places he had visited, the cave was named "Djara". Rohlfs added the remark "floor strewn with flint fragments". In the West, however, the cave was soon forgotten. It wasn't until 1989 that Carlo Bergmann, the desert explorer from Cologne, found the cave once more. Bergmann reported Neolithic artefacts in the cave's immediate surrounds and pictures of animals on a stalagmite in the cave's entrance. Beginning in 1990, the cave was the focus of archaeological investigations by the Heinrich Barth Institute of the University of Cologne. From 1995 these investigations were continued by Collaborative Research Centre 389 'ACACIA'.
Find further information here
With funding from the EU project "DOORS" (Digital incubator fOR muSeums)", Rick Springer researched digital museum offerings and their use by visitors as well as non-visitors.
Since the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic at the end of 2019, many museums across Europe have developed new digital offerings.
However, in order to provide sustainable and successful digital offerings, museums must first take a step back and assess the needs of their potential users.
With the support of The Audience Agency, Springer reassessed existing digital offerings and analysed digital users and their motivations.
In addition, the motivation and wishes of visitors and non-visitors were recorded, from which criteria for sustainable and stimulating digital offers were subsequently identified.
Our DOORS project addressed the following research questions:
The Neanderthal Museum is part of the DOORS - Digital Incubator of Museums network.
This research was initiated in the course of DOORS by Ars Electronica, Museum Booster and the Ecsite network.
DOORS is made possible with funding from the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101036071.
In the project "Experience the Ice Age Digitally", our museum developed a digital journey of discovery into the Ice Age together with visitors, non-visitors and external project partners from the Ice Age Europe Network. Together with the Vogelherd site, the Prehistoric Museum Blaubeuren and the Chair of Museology at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, a playful digital application called "Eiszeitwelten / Ice Age Worlds" was created in a participatory manner. The unique selling point of the project was the focus on the wishes and needs of the end users.
The Kultur.Gemeinschaften project was made possible thanks to support from the "NEUSTART.KULTUR" funding programme. At the beginning of June 2023, the new mobile game for mobile devices was published in the popular app stores (Google Play, App Store).
Former project manager: Rick M. Springer
Contact person: riethus@neanderthal.de
The project "NMsee" (2019-2021) is developing an inclusive mobile game that offers a new museum experience to guests with and without visual impairments.
The mobile game takes guests on a journey into the Ice Age and is based on so-called "audio games" such as "Sound of Magic" or "The Nightjar". For guests with visual impairments, the barrier-free game offers, among other things, an indoor navigation function. The museum is also installing new tactile exhibits, tactile signs and a floor guidance system in the permanent exhibition.
In cooperation with the BSV Nordrhein e.V. the mobile game is developed interactively and continuously tested with people affected. The game release is planned for spring 2021, depending on the development of the COVID pandemic.
In the final year 2021 a report about the evaluation results and the development work in the project will be published. NMsee is also accompanied by the dissertation of the project leader at the University of Heidelberg (History Department, Public History).
Updates on the project can be found via Twitter, on the museum blog and on the social media channels of the Neanderthal Museum.
Scientific Project Manager:
Anna Riethus
Staff member of BSVN e.V.
NMsee is made possible by:
Stiftung Wohlfahrtspflege, Kämpgen Stiftung
The new accessible infrastructure is made possible by:
NRW-Stiftung, LVR
More new tactile exhibits are made possible by:
Aktion Mensch
The inclusive mobile game and the new infrastructure will be implemented with the following companies:
Wegesrand GmbH und Co KG
Monokel - Films, Games, Transmedia
Inkl. Design
So far there have been no caves discovered in Germany that contain convincing evidence of the presence of Ice Age cave art. The Neanderthal Museum has been active in research in French and Spanish caves for many years, has an impressive photographic collection of Ice Age art courtesy of the work of Heinrich Wendel, and is in contact with German cave research groups. For these reasons, the Neanderthal Museum is the first point of contact for those who have questions about this subject. All of the supposed discoveries of cave art in Germany have one thing in common: not one of the locations in question contains a convincing, easily recognisable motif. In every case the evidence consists of no more than residues and remains, the origins of which are unclear, and for which creation by humans is only one of many possibilities. So far it seems as if, although caves in Germany were unquestionable sought after by Ice Age hunters, they served a different purpose to that of caves in France and Spain.
Find further information here.
The Feldhofer Cave is world-renowned as the discovery site of Neanderthals. Excavations in 1997 and 2000 by the Rhineland Department of Archaeological and Natural Heritage yielded, along with human bones, stone artefacts and the remains of prey animals. These finds, together with the knowledge gained from other Neanderthal find sites in central Europe, lead us to believe that the gentle hills and low valleys of the Neander area were an ideal location for Neanderthals to live. There are many Neanderthal sites from the late Stone Age which correspond to this view. There are, however, none from the final stages of the Ice Age. Through systematic surveying and regular mapping of sites, our knowledge should be continuously improved.
Since 2003, in cooperation with the Rhineland Department of Archaeological and Natural Heritage in Overath, the Neanderthal museum has overseen the volunteer heritage workers throughout the region in matters to do with the Stone Age. Through theoretical and practical instruction, the recognition and identification of stone artefacts and other skills are imparted. New finds, in particular, are intensively discussed. This is a basic prerequisite for the future discovery of other Ice Age sites. Since 2010, the Neanderthal Museum has held a quarterly 'Artefact Identification Day' and, with luck, this may yield Neanderthal artefacts.
The period between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago is an extremely interesting one for archaeological researchers, and one with many unanswered questions. Time and again the media focuses on the human fossils from this period: Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. These rare fossils are not, however, the only available sources of information; the analysis of stone artefact technology is a consistent source of insights into the behaviour of our ancestors. The reason for this is the degree of planning necessary to effectively work stone. This depth of planning can be, in large part, reconstructed. The Neanderthal Museum concentrates its work on the analysis, using the latest methods, of important sites from the period of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, without necessarily carrying out the excavations itself. Among these sites are Salzgitter-Lebenstedt (Lower Saxony), Balver Cave, and Lommersum (both in NRW).
In the summer of 2013 a special research project of the Neanderthal Museum, in conjunction with the University of Cologne, was in its initial stages. Dr. Andreas Pastoors and Dr. Tilman Lenssen-Erz, together with three trackers from Namibia, were visiting caves containing Ice Age art in France. Their goal was to use the rare specialist knowledge of the three trackers to interpret preserved footprints of Ice Age people. The project team was accompanied by a camera team from arte who were making a documentary. A short film can be viewed here.
People from the end of the last Ice Age did not only leave behind rock art in caves, they also left behind prints in the soft cave floors. These hand- and footprints have been known of for the last 100 years and have been investigated using traditional Western scientific methods. These methods did not include, however, the ancient skill of reading tracks, which wasn't seen as a useful interpretative method. Tracking knowledge and the skills associated with it are possessed by very few people today. Among those few are the experienced hunters of the Jul'hoansi ("Bush people") of the Kalahari (Namibia). Three such trackers were recruited to decipher the tracks left by humans in caves in southern France and their interpretations were recorded. In every cave visited the trackers not only made informed interpretations of the prints, but also identified previously unknown prints. The project has proved so successful that a follow-up project is being planned.
The project is sponsored by the DFG: LE 1117/4 (2013). Lebensbilder eiszeitlicher Höhlenkünstler. Modelluntersuchungen zu Aktivitäten in Höhlenräumen im Kontext der Wandkunst.
The research project examines, through analysis of art and resource management, the spatial organisation of Magdalenian hunters on the northern edge of the Pyrenees. With this holistic approach, researchers will attempt to gain insight into the social, religious, and economic aspects of spatial organisation among Ice Age hunters. Working outward from the central site of Enlène/Les Trois-Frères in a radial pattern, spatial statistical methods will be used in an attempt to determine the network of relationships across an entire small region. The extremely rich haul of finds from Enlène/Les Trois-Frères make it probable that it was an occupation site of particular importance within the Magdalenian settlement network.
Such an integrated research approach in the field of Palaeolithic art has not previously been undertaken. The artistic and economic aspects of spatial organisation have only been examined in isolation in the past. This holistic approach is innovative and affords the opportunity to develop a new, powerful research methodology.
Sponsored by the DFG: WE 1022/12 (since 2013). Kommunikation und Ressourcennutzung. Modelluntersuchungen zu Raumkonzepten magdalénienzeitlicher Wildbeuter.
The Volp River Valley has been systematically investigated for new archaeological sites in order to shed light on the settlement history of the area. In recent years, two sites close by the famous Volp caves have been systematically investigated and the findings published.
Perte de la Tuilerie
Engravings were discovered in the small cave of Perte de la Tuilerie in 1995. Engravings of a horse, a steppe bison, and another, unknown, animal are found in a narrow, elongated gallery. Of particular interest is the style in which the steppe bison is drawn. Its disproportionately large forebody and head are similar to figures found in both Pech-Merle and Niaux.
Abri du Rhinocéros
Directly above the entrance to Tuc d'Audoubert is the small rock-shelter of Abri du Rhinocéros. In the summer of 1912, the Bégouën family carried out small-scale excavations here. The results of those excavations are unknown. As part of the work being carried out in Tuc d'Audoubert, the Neanderthal Museum undertook new, selective sampling investigations. The results show the rock-shelter was frequented by Middle Palaeolithic hunters. This is an important finding for our understanding of the occupation history of the area around the Volp caves.
The spectacular prehistoric pictures on rock walls, both in open-air sites and in caves, consistently attract the interest of researchers and the media alike. People used these images to create a signposted landscape from the natural one. In this way, for example, landmarks were identified and drawings and paintings were created near water sources. Other prehistoric artefacts of everyday and ritual activities contribute to our understanding of these images. While a range of methods and a large dataset exist regarding the connection of rock art to the landscape in open-air sites, the application of this methodology to cave conditions is new territory.
Sponsored by the DAAD (1999-2001). Siedlungsfunde des Magdalénien in den Höhlenheiligtümern Les Trois-Frères und Tuc d'Audoubert (Ariège). Zum Verständnis der Nutzung von Höhlenheiligtümern.
Sponsored by the DFG: WE 1022/6 (2001-2004). Paläolithische Wandkunst und Siedlungsverhalten in Höhlensystemen. Eine Fallstudie der Volp-Höhlen (Frankreich).
Further information: Association Louis Bégouën
The Neanderthal Museum is involved in an excavation on the southern edge of the Alps. Since 2010, an excavation in Rio Secco Cave has been undertaken in cooperation with the Universities of Ferrara (Italy) and Tarragona (Spain), and the Municipality of Clauzetto. The site is located in Friuli in northeastern Italy.
A test excavation in 2002 revealed that a Neanderthal artefact horizon was situated at a depth of 2m. Little is known about the behaviour of Neanderthals on the southern edge of the Alps. A further artefact horizon was unexpectedly uncovered. The new horizon is approximately 50cm above the Neanderthal one and contains artefacts from the Gravettian culture.
Find further information here
New research on the phylogeny of Neanderthals has identified a split within Neanderthal groups around 150 ka, suggesting that a population turnover probably occurred in the Caucasus. For example, Neanderthal remains dating to around 100 ka and associated with Levallois technology have been found in the Azokh 1 cave in the Lesser Caucasus. However, this exciting finding raises the question of whether Neanderthals walked this South Caspian Corridor (SCC), which is a geo-ecological continuation of the Caucasus. In his expedition to Iran during the 1960s, McBurney considered the SCC to be the shortest and fastest route from Europe and the Caucasus to Central Asia and Siberia, and any human movement from the west would be expected to pass through this region en route to the east. In his excavation at Ke'Aram Cave in the SCC, he documented Middle Palaeolithic artefacts reminiscent of the Zagros Mousterian, which shows close affinities with the lithic material from Teshik-Tash Cave in Central Asia. McBurney's conclusions allow this project to hypothesise that the SCC, in its dual role as a bio-geographic dispersal corridor and habitat, witnessed a series of evolutionary events that took place in at least MIS5 and 4 and that it may have been a potential area for the encounters of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. Exceptional physiogeographic features of the SCC allowed for milder climatic conditions that made this region very attractive to diverse hominins as a glacial refuge during cold episodes of MIS5 and 4. Therefore, this project hypothesises that contemporaneous Middle Palaeolithic inventories of the westernmost and easternmost areas of the corridor show a high degree of cultural affinity. To test these hypotheses, I will re-analyse the lithic artefacts from Azokh 1 as the westernmost and Teshik-Tash as the easternmost site of the SCC and continue the excavation at Ke'Aram using modern methods. All lithics will be carefully compared with Bawa Yawan Rockshelter stratified Zagros mousteria to detect any possible cultural exchange between the sites. Site formation and taphonomic studies based on micromorphology and lithic analyses using chaîne opératoire and attribute analysis methods are crucial to the aims of this project. Samples for absolute OSL, TL and 14C dating are an important basis for this research project to improve the understanding of the age and significance of the Middle Palaeolithic at this key site and to discover SCC's role in the dispersal route from Europe to Central Asia.
Since 2009 this project has investigated intercontinental contact between North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula during the Holocene. In the early Holocene and the beginning of the Neolithic, a phase of increased mobility in the western Mediterranean has been documented. The changing environment during this period had an important influence on human mobility. The field research in Morocco is concentrated in the east of the Rif region. Work is being carried out in cooperation with the KAAK, Bonn and the INSAP, Rabat.
Sponsored by the DFG: Collaborative Research Centre 806 (since 2008). Our way to Europe.
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The Iberian Peninsula was the final refugium of the Neanderthals. Since 2009 this project has examined the migration and settlement history of the last Neanderthals, and the connections that existed between this and the spread of modern humans. Important factors include population density, as well as the short, abrupt climatic events which regularly exerted a strong influence on living conditions in the western Mediterranean region. A comparison with the situation in North Africa should clarify whether intercontinental contact spanning the Strait of Gibraltar existed. Within the scope of the project many sites in the Iberian peninsula will be, or have been, investigated, and a database of all important sites will be compiled. This work is being carried out in cooperation with Spanish and Portuguese research institutes and museums.
Sponsored by the DFG: Collaborative Research Centre 806 (since 2009). Our Way to Europe.
Find further information here.
The travertine area of San Quintín de Mediona in the province of Barcelona contains a ca. 2 km stretch containing numerous rock-shelter sites. At the Mediona I, La Canyada, Can Costella, and La Boria rock-shelters, Middle Palaeolithic living sites were excavated and investigated between 1987 and 1997. Archaeological evidence for the Middle Palaeolithic settlement of San Quintín de Mediona Valley dates to between 90,000 and 80,000 years BP. In this period, erosion of the travertine dam that had spanned the valley led to the creation of rock-shelters and small caves fronted by sedimentary fans. Middle Palaeolithic people settled here on the hillside of the valley, with undisturbed access to the river or small lakes and ponds. In Can Costella is a living site from the final period of Oxygen Isotopic Stage 5.
In Mediona I there is a long series of at least seven occupation layers. The series begins in Oxygen Isotopic Stage 5 and stretches into, and possibly through, Stage 4. The late dating of the uppermost artefact horizon to a cool climatic phase is based on the topmost sediments which are of loess. Besides stone artefacts and prey animal remains, hearths and other features associated with occupation have been found. ESR dating of burnt flint returned dates for the occupation of Mediona I of between 84,000 and 62,000 years BP. The time period of occupation of the La Boria site is still unclear. Here, the interlocking strata of human habitation and travertine deposition can be seen most clearly. Occupation took place on travertine sands of old basin deposits and, most probably, in close proximity to standing pools of water. From around 40,000 years BP there began another period of heavy erosion in the valley, which deepened it a further 15m. Archaeological evidence of human habitation in the valley disappears at this point. Only with the beginning of the Holocene do we once again find archaeological traces of human occupation in the valley.
The investigations were carried out in partnership with the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Archaeology Department of the University of Tübingen, the Institute for Geography and Geo-ecology at the University of Karlsrühe, and the German Archaeological Institute in Madrid. Analysis of the excavated material is ongoing.
Project sponsored by the DFG: WE 1022/xx (1996-98) Steinzeitliche Besiedlungs- und Umweltgeschichte im westlichen Mittelmeergebiet - Exemplarische Studien in Katalonien.
The Iberian Peninsula was one of the final refugia of the Neanderthals. A much-discussed hypothesis states that, for a long period, anatomically modern humans did not penetrate the peninsula further than the River Ebro, while Neanderthals continued to live on the peninsula south of the Ebro. The cultures of the Middle Palaeolithic in Europe have traditionally been associated with the Neanderthals, while those of the Upper Palaeolithic have been seen as new cultures, possibly brought to Europe by anatomically modern humans. How the transition from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic transpired on the Iberian Peninsula is still unknown. The cause of the disappearance of the Neanderthals is also a mystery.
To aid research into these fascinating questions, important finds, including human fossils, new tool-types from the Upper Palaeolithic, and decorative objects, from the Iberian Peninsula have been recorded and analysed with the help of 3D surface scanners and computerised tomography.
This project was sponsored by the Gerda Henkel Foundation (2008-10). Regionale Differenzierungen im späten Mittelpaläolithikum der Iberischen Halbinsel. Erstellung einer Datensammlung zur wissenschaftlichen Analyse und zur Implementierung in NESPOS.
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The project examined the changing technology of stone tool production during the critical period of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. It concentrated on a core region for stone tool research in which there is an abnormally high density of data. Artefacts from the sites of El Castillo, Cueva Morin, L'Arbreda, Abric Romani, and Jarama VI formed the basis of the analysis.
One focus was a quantitative analysis of the presence of Middle Palaeolithic stone tool technologies in the Upper Palaeolithic inventory of the Châtelperronian and the Aurignacian, and the presence of Upper Palaeolithic microlithic technology in Middle Palaeolithic technology complexes. That flakes were used as the basis for tool production in Aurignacian technology is undisputed, but is an aspect of the technology that has not been closely examined. The same can be said of microlith production in the Middle Palaeolithic. In order to form a clear picture of the spectrum of technological knowledge and efficiency of resource use, a comprehensive collection of quantitative data had first to be amassed.
The project was sponsored by the DFG: WE 1022/8 (2007-11). Der Übergang vom Mittel- zum Jungpaläolithikum in Südwesteuropa. Modelluntersuchungen zur Steingerätetechnologie.
The town of Yabroud is situated approximately 80 km northeast of Damascus (Syria), and approximately 20 km east of the Lebanese border. Not far from the town are a number of caves, among which is the archaeological site of Yabroud II. The finds from Yabroud II have been analysed a number of times. The first analysis of the site inventory was undertaken by the excavator A. Rust, in 1950, and published under the title "The Finds from Yabroud Cave (Syria)". In the following years, the artefacts were examined and analysed on numerous occasions, each time focusing on different aspects. In the work of Ziffer (1981) and Bakdach (1982), particular attention was paid to the Upper Palaeolithic finds. The lower six stratigraphic levels, which include the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, had received little attention and these artefacts became the focus of a new technological analysis by the Neanderthal Museum. The results of this analysis identified a change in the method of flake production in Yabroud II. In the lower stratigraphic levels, flakes, blades, and points were produced with the Levallois technique. In higher levels, by contrast, are blades and bladelets produced with a 'blade' technique. Interestingly, between the two series of layers lies a layer in which both tool forms are found, marking the transition period.
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