Cave sealed for 40,000 years opened by archaeologists – what they find changes history

Meanwhile underneath 39,000-year-old sediments, archaeologists discovered the “world’s oldest abstract art” in Gorham’s Cave during a 2012 expedition. The artwork consisted of a series of intersecting lines engraved into a ledge. It is located about 100m inside the cave on what is believed to have been used as a sleeping ledge. 

In 2021 scientists discovered a new chamber in the nearby Vanguard Cave that – part of the wider Gorham’s Cave complex – lynx, hyaena and griffon vulture remains as well as what they believe is a large whelk.

Clive Finlayson, director and chief scientist at the Gibraltar National Museum, told CNN: “The whelk is at the back of that cave… it’s probably about 20 meters from the beach. Somebody took that whelk in there… over 40,000 years ago. So that’s already given me a hint that people have been in there, which is not perhaps too surprising. Those people, because of the age, can only be Neanderthals.”

He added: “How many times in your life are you going to find something that nobody’s been into for 40,000 years? It only comes once in your lifetime, I think.”

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/2156492/cave-sealed-40000-years-opened-by-archaeologists