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Neanderthal fossil hunters?
Excavations of Prado Vargas cave in northern Spain have uncovered 15 marine fossils in a Neanderthal assemblage dating to 39,800-54,600 years ago. With the exception of one, which had been used as a hammer, none of these fossils have any kind of modification or clear practical function. The authors of a recent paper in Quaternary (https://doi.org/10.3390/quat7040049) therefore propose that these objects were collected intentionally by Neanderthals who valued them for their aesthetic qualities or perceived symbolic significance. The researchers also raise the possibility that children may have been responsible, as Neanderthal child remains have been found in the cave and this sort of ‘collecting’ is characteristic of childhood in modern humans. Although we can only hypothesise about who collected these fossils and why, their presence in the cave is indicative of an advanced level of abstract thinking, representing yet another piece of evidence for Neanderthals’ capacity for complex thought and symbolic behaviour.
Royal regalia rediscovered
A cache of medieval objects created for the burials of three 16th-century rulers of Lithuania and Poland – Alexander Jagiellon and two wives of Sigismund II Augustus: Elisabeth of Austria and Barbara Radziwil´l´ – has been found in Vilnius Cathedral, Lithuania. The collection features silver funerary crowns, rings, chains, a medallion, a sceptre, a royal orb, and several coffin plaques, among other things. The artefacts were originally recovered in 1931 when the cathedral’s crypt was flooded, and were hidden again in 1939 when the Second World War broke out. Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to locate them in recent years, but their hiding place remained unknown until now. Thanks to the use of endoscopic cameras, the objects were discovered in a small space in the crypt, wrapped in newspaper dated to September 1939. The objects are currently undergoing conservation, with plans to place them on display later this year.
‘Puppets’ from El Salvador
A new paper in Antiquity (https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.37) reports the discovery of a group of ceramic ‘Bolinas-type’ figurines, dated to 410-380 BC, at the site of San Isidro in western El Salvador. The five figurines were buried on top of the largest pyramidal structure at San Isidro, suggesting some kind of ritual association. The assemblage consists of three larger figurines and two smaller ones, all female except for one of the larger figurines, which depicts a male with facial tattoos or ritual scarification. The faces of the figurines are cleverly designed so their expressions change from different angles, and the three larger figures have adjustable heads. Researchers therefore believe that these objects functioned like puppets or marionettes, used to re-enact specific scenes or ritual tableaus. Similarities with examples from other Mesoamerican sites suggests the existence of shared ritual practices and exchange networks across a wide region of Central America.
Text: Amy Brunskill / Image: J Przedwojewska-Szymańska/PASI, Antiquity
