Even those who know little about world history have likely heard of Merlin the Magician. The mythology which has been built up around him has endured for centuries, even though most have no idea exactly where the character of Merlin came from. Also, was Merlin benevolent or malevolent?
Merlin first appeared in “The History of Kings of Britain” circa 1136 (Via Flickr)
So where exactly did the legend of Merlin start, and how exactly is he connected to King Arthur?
According to a fascinating article found on the websiteAncient Origins, the story of Merlin is a complex one filled with contradictions and mysteries:
“The powerful wizard is depicted with many magical powers, including the power of shapeshifting and is well-known in mythology as a tutor and mentor to the legendary King Arthur, ultimately guiding him towards becoming the king of Camelot. While these general tales are well-known, Merlin’s initial appearances were only somewhat linked to Arthur. It took many decades of adaptations before Merlin became the wizard of Arthurian legend he is known as today.”
King Arthur found Merlin to be an important friend and ally, (Via YouTube)
The first mention of Merlin can be found in The History of Kings of Britain, which was written in 1136 AD by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Much of the work is a historical record of English kings, Merlin is found, but as a fictional character:
“Merlin was paradoxical, as he was both the son of the devil and the servant of God.”
Son of the devil and servant of God? That certainly makes Merlin an object of fascination, if for no other reason than such a description makes us question his motives and what role he played in Arthur’s kingdom.
Part Madman, Part Warrior
The character of Merlin was actually a composite of several historical figures who were well-known to readers of the time:
“Geoffrey combined stories of North Brythonic prophet and madman, Myrddin Wyllt, and Romano-British war leader, Ambrosius Aurelianus, to create Merlin Ambrosius.”
Notice the dichotomy once again: Merlin was part madman and part warrior. That alone suggests that his “magic” may have been little more than the rantings of a lunatic who was bent on attaching himself to power. And no one was more powerful than a king.
In this depiction, Merlin certainly appears to be incredibly mystical. (Via Flickr)
Ambrosius is of particular interest because he shows up in relation to another British king, Vortigern, who wanted to erect a tower. However, each time Vortigern tried to build the tower, it would collapse. The only way the tower would ever stand required a bizarre ritual:
“(Vortigern) was told that to prevent this, he would have to first sprinkle the ground beneath the tower with the blood of a child who was born without a father. Ambrosius was thought to have been born without a father, so he was brought before Vortigern. Ambrosius explains to Vortigern that the tower could not be supported upon the foundation because two battling dragons lived beneath, representing the Saxons and the Britons. Ambrosius convinced Vortigern that the tower will only stand with Ambrosius as a leader, and Vortigern gave Ambrosius the tower, which is also the kingdom.”
Geoffrey, in his telling of the Merlin legend, notes that Merlin was also fatherless, but he also retained the character of Ambrosius.
King of the Britons Vortigern and Ambros watch the fight between two dragons (Via Wikimedia Commons)
Another change Geoffrey makes is that in the story with Merlin and King Vortigern, Merlin’s prophecies are included. Those prophecies point directly to the ultimate crowning of Arthur as king of Britain. And in doing so, Geoffrey introduces the notion that King Arthur was the fulfillment of a prophecy, giving him a magical air.
“These include the tale of Merlin creating Stonehenge as the burial location for Ambrosius, and the story of Uther Pendragon sneaking into Tintagel where he fathers Arthur with Igraine, his enemy’s wife.”
The name Merlin is also found in a poem written by Robert de Boron. The poem was written long after Merlin had first been introduced in The History of Kings of Britain. However, Boron’s poem focuses more on Merlin’s magical abilities:
“Boron places special emphasis on Merlin’s shapeshifting powers, connection to the Holy Grail, and his jokester personality.”
Merlin was also shown in some writings as a mentor and tutor to King Arthur, giving him advice on difficult situations facing the kingdom.
Today, most of us know Merlin as the benevolent tutor to King Arthur who often used his rapier wit to defuse potentially dangerous situations. Depictions of Camelot almost always place Merlin in a prominent position even though he wasn’t allowed to sit as a Knight of the Round Table.
Over the centuries, Merlin has undergone many manifestations, from good to evil and back again. Despite all of the contradictions found in a close reading of works that deal with Merlin, he remains one of the most fascinating figures in all of mythology.
A tomb containing a 2,000-old-year old skeleton was recently unearthed in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, and it appears the remains are of an ancient warrior woman who lived during the height of the Roman Empire, according to the Daily Mail:
“She was found in the North Caucasus and is thought to have been of a ‘high-status’ within her community – possibly the wife, sister or mother of a prominent warrior or chieftain.”
Of particular interest to the archaeologists who found the tomb was the jewelry discovered at the same time, including two “very valuable rings” with dark glass centers. Archaeologist Anna Kadieva noted:
“She had two rings on her fingers manufactured with the use of quite a complex technology.”
“Each of them is cast from transparent white glass with golden fibres from the same material, with a dark glass installation in the middle.”
One of the rings found in the tomb (Via North Caucasus united archaeolog)
The woman is thought to have been from the Alans warrior people who arrived in Caucasus in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, Ancient Origins reports. The rings were likely “Roman made,” and a description of them highlights just how much work went into producing the items:
“A bright violet amethyst medallion was also discovered and archaeologists found that the beads found on the woman’s shoes were crafted of glass containing ‘carnelian,’ which is an orangey mineral belonging to the Quartz family and widely used during Roman times in engraved gems for signet (or seal) rings for imprinting wax seals on correspondences.”
The workmanship on the rings is similar to that found in the ancient Roman Empire (VIa North Caucasus united archaeolog)
The Caucasus Connection
Though most of us have heard of the Caucasus region, you may not know that it was once a region of great importance because the isthmus itself is a land bridge between the Eurasian steppes and Western Asia. So it served as a way to pass between Europe and Asia during the days that Rome was the dominant power across much of the known world. It is also a region rich with reminders of the planet’s early history:
“Surveys and excavations carried out by Soviet researchers up until the 1990s revealed the existence of archaeological sites from the beginning of the Holocene, approximately the last 11,700 years of Earth’s history.”
The location of the tomb containing the warrior woman (Via The Daily Mail)
Finding the Origins of Ancient Warriors
Thousands of years ago, the people in the region were equally dispersed along the shores of the Black and Caspian Seas and in the Kura and Arax River basins. And over the past couple of decades, there has been extensive archaeological excavations in the locations that were home to the majority of the population. The results of those international missions have yielded a great deal of new finds.
All of this leads researchers to speculate that the jewels found in the Russian tomb may have been “jewels of war,” Ancient Originsnotes:
“Roman soldiers reached South Caucasus at the end of the 2nd century BC and the Kingdom of Colchis was completely destroyed and incorporated into the Roman Empire as the province of Lazicum. The preceding 600 years of South Caucasian history were marked by the struggle between Rome and the Sassanids of Persia, who according to HistoryNet, allied with the Romans in the Roman-Persian Wars.”
The tomb where the jewels were found (Via North Caucasus united archaeolog)
In 69 AD, the Roman Empire was in the midst of a bloody civil war, and part of that took place in the Caucus region that is home to the warrior tomb:
“The people of the kingdoms of Colchis (Caucasus) and Pontus, an ancient district in northeastern Anatolia adjoining the Black Sea, staged a major tribal uprising against Roman rule which ended unsuccessfully. These tiny, delicate and rare items of jewelry, found with the 2000-year-old woman’s remains, were all made and worn in these turbulent times when the ‘barbarians’ of northern Europe were being conquered by Rome: artifacts of war.”
One of the skeletons found in the Russian tomb (Via North Caucasus united archaeolog)
Further studies into the finds are planned, but for now, we have a glimpse into history that may well wind up adding even greater illumination to what we know about the Roman Empire and how it came to a sudden end.
Here’s more on the incredible find in Russia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=625IYE6LQeg
Featured Image Via North Caucasus united archaeolog
“(Deputy) Diaz bravely fought but…lost his battle due to injuries sustained in the tragic crash that…claimed the lives of Cpl. Luis Paez and (Deputy) Butch Waller,” the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office stated
Knoxville Police Department officers repeatedly instructed the man to drop the weapon for nearly a minute before firing shots when he quickened his approach
Harris County Deputy Katherine Hutson, a single parent, was working a construction site traffic enforcement shift with her daughter in the car when the crash caused the cruiser to catch fire
For the first time, archaeologists in Mexico have found direct evidence that ancient humans actually engineered traps to hunt and kill woolly mammoths to butcher them for their meat and hides.
We already know that humans killed and butchered mammoths to survive during the Ice Age. But the question of how has been a subject of debate, and that’s why a new discovery south of the border is generating excitement.
In the town of Tultepec just north of Mexico City, archaeologists excavated two pits that humans dug 15,000 years ago. Herds of mammoths used to roam the area and humans apparently would force the massive beasts to fall into the pits to their deaths by using spears and fire to scare them over the edge.
Site of the excavation in Tultepec in Mexico, where hunter-gatherers dug pits to trap mammoths. Image via YouTube.Tultepec in relation to Mexico City, which is shaded in light blue on the map. Image via YouTube.
This method was clearly successful as the team has found hundreds of bones from at least 14 mammoths so far.
The dig site where mammoth bones are still being found. Image via YouTube.
Scoring a mammoth kill on a hunt would have been quite an achievement that would have provided food for a long period of time for the whole group, as well as hides to make clothes and blankets and bones from which to carve tools and weapons and other items for trade, all in an effort to survive the harsh conditions of the Ice Age.
Hunting mammoths would have been a dangerous activity, so digging pits would have reduced the risk to the lives of the hunters.
Up to now, no evidence of mammoth traps had ever been found, which makes this find all the more significant.
“(This) represents a watershed, a touchstone on what we imagined until now was the interaction of hunter-gatherer bands with these enormous herbivores,” Mexico National Institute of Anthropology and History archaeologist Pedro Francisco Sánchez Nava said in a statement.
“There was little evidence before that hunters attacked mammoths,” excavation leader Luis Córdoba Barradas added. “It was thought they frightened them into getting stuck in swamps and then waited for them to die. This is evidence of direct attacks on mammoths. In Tultepec we can see there was the intention to hunt and make use of the mammoths.”
Mammoths roamed the Earth for millions of years in Europe, North America and Asia before a shift in the climate started a warming trend that caused their decline. The last mammoths would become trapped on an Arctic island just north of where Alaska and Russia nearly meet. That small mammoth herd would persist for thousands of years until interbreeding and water contamination wiped them out just 4,000 years ago, which means mammoths were still living when the ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramid.
11,000 years prior, hunter-gatherers in Mexico executed the pit strategy, taking what they needed from the mammoth carcasses and leaving the rest of the remains for us to uncover 15,000 years later in 2019.
The skull and tusks of a mammoth that hunters trapped 15,000 years ago. Image via YouTube.
In three of the profiles exposed by this large excavation (40 by 100 meters and 8 deep), Córdoba observed different mammoth bones, but what caught his attention were vertical cuts in the arrangement of the strata or layers. These were two graves with walls of almost 90 degrees, 1.70 meters deep and 25 meters in diameter, which were used as traps for these proboscids.
The archaeologist said that the site called “Tultepec II”, where they have worked for almost ten months with the support of the town hall, 824 bones have been recovered, with no anatomical relationship, mostly corresponding to 14 mammoths. The remains of eight come from the first two excavation units located in the southwest corner of the land; while the vestiges of six others were rescued north of it, in the third excavation unit.
Within these pits, below 3.50 meters, eight skulls, five jaws, a hundred vertebrae, 179 ribs, 11 scapulae, five humerus have been recovered, in addition to ulnas (cubes of a long bone), pelvis, femurs, tibiae and other “small” bones.
A giant bone from a mammoth. Image via YouTube.Mammoth remains. Image via YouTube.Mammoth leg bones. Image via YouTube.
In Mexico, too, climate change had an impact that resulted in a drier environment in the Mexico Basin.
To fully understand this discovery…at the end of the Pleistocene, a time of great climatic instability in which the poles were frozen causing the level to drop from the sea across the planet and drier environments in several regions, in the case of the Mexico Basin.
A volcanic eruption around 14,700 years ago also impacted the area and dropped the level of a lake enough for hunters to use the newly exposed plains to dig out their traps.
In that sense, the prehistoric traps of Tultepec, were excavated in the clay of the bottom of the Lake of Xaltocan, approximately 15 thousand years ago, when their levels descended and left great plains exposed. This global phenomenon coincided with a local one: the great eruption of Popocatepetl 14,700 years ago, which motivated a great mobilization of animals and human beings to the north of the Basin of Mexico, where the fall of volcanic ash was lower.
A team of around 20 to 30 hunters would then use fire, branches, and spears to separate a mammoth from the herd and direct it to a pit, where it would then be pushed in, which is different from how textbooks present mammoth hunting today.
The side of a cliff at the Tultepec site. Image via YouTube.
At a press conference and on behalf of the anthropologist Diego Prieto Hernández, general director of the Institute, Sánchez Nava said that this finding changes that “random” and “eventual” scene that textbooks used to handle mammoth hunting: that of an animal who was attacked only when he fell into a swamp. On the other hand, the excavations in San Antonio Xahuento, demonstrate the use of the environment and social organization achieved by the first settlers of the Basin of Mexico to undertake this hunting activity.
In short, humans did not wait for a mammoth to get itself stuck by chance. They took the initiative and laid a special trap to actively hunt them.
This discovery changes our views of mammoth hunting by ancient humans.
The hunters would then descend into the pits to butcher their prize, but they also showed great respect to the animal, often arranging the bones in a way to honor it and give thanks for the subsistence it provided them. And they did not leave anything to waste. The team also found evidence that the hunters used the bones of the animal to butcher it.
Córdoba said that the ribs of these animals, as shown in the five marks, were used to cut the meat. The end of an ulna that served as a polishing tool was also found, possibly to remove the fat from the skin. Also, the organs were consumed, including the tongue that could weigh up to 12 kilos, which is why their skulls are often found inverted.
Mammoth vertebrae. Image via YouTube.Various mammoth bones. Image via YouTube.
One such mammoth apparently had a more special meaning to the hunters than the others.
This specimen has an attack mark and it is noted that its left defense, shorter than the right, regenerated after a fracture; indications that hunter-gatherers watched him and tried to hunt him for years, “that’s why they had to consider him brave, fierce, and showed him his respect in this way, with this particular arrangement,” says Luis Córdoba.
Mammoth pelvis. Image via YouTube.Mammoth skull and tusks. Is this the beast the hunters respected so much? Image via YouTube.
The bones will likely be placed on display at various museums. The excavation site, meanwhile, is set to become a landfill, which is unfortunate.
However, the team believes there are more pits in the area to be found because just like trapping today, the hunter-gatherers would have been more successful setting multiple traps. So, it’s entirely possible that more pits will be excavated in the near future along with even more mammoth bones, adding more to the story of mammoths that continues to unfold after more than 15,000 years.
A study of ancient teeth belonging to modern humans and Neanderthals of the Aurignacian culture at Manot Cave in Israel is shedding new light on human migration from Europe to the Levant around 40,000 years ago. The Levant includes the historic areas of Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Syria with close proximity to Egypt.
The Neanderthals were on the verge of extinction 40,000 years ago when they came into contact with Homo sapiens, also known as modern humans. Groups of Neanderthals in southern Europe survived long enough to make their final eagle talon necklaces, one of which was found recently by researchers in Spain in Foradada Cave just two miles inland from the Mediterranean coast.
Just over 2,000 miles away, another group of researchers led by Dr. Rachel Sarig of Tel Aviv University School of Dental Medicine analyzed six teeth that were uncovered in Manot Cave.
Discovered in 2008, Manot Cave is a significant prehistoric location noted for the finding of an ancient human skullcap from 54,700 that turned out to be the oldest human remains outside of Africa and proved modern humans lived alongside Neanderthals and interbred with them, which has been shown by genetic studies.
Manot Cave in Israel, where the teeth were found. Image via Wikimedia.
Many of the artifacts found in the cave since then belong to the Aurignacian culture, an Upper Paleolithic culture of humans that existed in Europe at the time.
The Aurignacian culture first appeared in Europe some 43,000 years ago and is known for having produced bone tools, artifacts, jewelry, musical instruments, and cave paintings. For years, researchers believed that modern man’s entry into Europe led to the rapid decline of the Neanderthals, either through violent confrontation or wresting control of food sources. But recent genetic studies have shown that Neanderthals did not vanish. Instead, they assimilated into modern human immigrant populations. The new study adds further evidence to substantiate this theory.
In fact, the oldest known musical instrument is credited to the Aurignacian culture in the form of a 35,000 to 40,000-year-old bone flute found in Germany in 2008, the same year a construction crew accidentally found the Manot Cave.
The bone flute made by the Aurignacian culture is regarded as the oldest musical instrument ever found. Image via Wikimedia.
Sometime during this period 40,000 years ago, however, a migration consisting of these Aurignacian humans along with Neanderthals migrated to the Levant, thus introducing the culture to humans and Neanderthals there, which is how evidence of the culture likely ended up in the cave.
This study presents the dental remains discovered at Manot Cave (MC), Western Galilee, Israel. The cave contains evidence for human occupation during the Early Upper Paleolithic period (46–33 ka) mainly of Early Ahmarian (∼46–42 ka) and Levantine Aurignacian (∼38–34 ka) cultural levels. Six teeth (three deciduous and three permanent) were found at the site, of which four could be thoroughly analyzed. The morphology of the teeth was qualitatively described and analyzed using traditional and geometric morphometric methods. A large comparative sample was used in order to assess the morphological affiliation of the Manot specimens with other Homo groups. The results provided equivocal signals: the upper first premolar is probably modern human; the upper deciduous second molar and the upper second permanent molar might be modern humans; the lower second deciduous molar might be Neanderthal.
Ancient teeth found in Manot Cave that were examined by the team. Image via Tel Aviv University.
While the results were not conclusive, they suggested that humans migrated from Europe to the Levant 40,000 years ago, resulting in a new culture that persisted for a few thousand years before it mysteriously disappeared.
“Unlike bones, teeth are preserved well because they’re made of enamel, the substance in the human body most resistant to the effects of time,” Dr. Sarig said in a press release. “The structure, shape, and topography or surface bumps of the teeth provided important genetic information. We were able to use the external and internal shape of the teeth found in the cave to associate them with typical hominin groups: Neanderthal and Homo sapiens. Following the migration of European populations into this region, a new culture existed in the Levant for a short time, approximately 2,000-3,000 years. It then disappeared for no apparent reason. Now we know something about their makeup.”
Indeed, the population that migrated to the Levant from Europe not only included humans but also Neanderthals along with any hybrid individuals resulting from interbreeding between the two species.
Neanderthal DNA continues to survive within our species today, clear proof that humans and Neanderthals successfully interbred, which may have contributed to the demise of the Neanderthal species as a whole. Perhaps they were not wiped out by violence or disease, but rather by genetic assimilation or a combination of all three.
The same may have been true of the Denisovans, who interbred with Neanderthals. Only the offspring produced by such interbreeding between these two human species were likely sterile, therefore incapable of further reproduction to pass along the genetic code. However, Denisovans apparently had more success interbreeding with humans, as their DNA survives in some humans today such as Australian Aborigines and others.
This study is also significant because it’s the first time scientists have found human remains dating from this particular period, adding to our scant knowledge of this time period.
“Until now, we hadn’t found any human remains with valid dating from this period in Israel,” Professor Israel Hershkovitz, head of the Dan David Center said. “So the group remains a mystery. This groundbreaking study contributes to the story of the population responsible for some of the world’s most important cultural contributions.”
In addition to the flute, which was made out of a vulture wing bone, the Aurignacian culture produced stone tools characterized by blades instead of flakes along with tools made of bones and antlers. The culture also produced cave art and figurines further defining it.
Genetic studies have previously proved useful in discovering yet another migration from Europe to the Levant around 35,000 years later during the 12th century BC that would have major influence on biblical history. After testing remains uncovered in the ancient city of Ashkelon, researchers found that Philistines, portrayed as villains in the Bible, came from Europe to settle in Israel, where they had confrontations with the Israelites. The European genes eventually disappeared over the centuries as the Philistines expanded their gene pool in the region.
These two discoveries are not only historic, but they are also examples of scientific advancement that has increased our knowledge of peoples and time periods through the ages. This knowledge can help us understand ourselves better today. As technology improves, it’s only a matter of time.
There are few creatures surrounded by more mystery, wonder, and fascination than unicorns. Some say they existed and then died out. Others insist unicorns are nothing more than a myth; a creation of human imagination.
So, what exactly is the truth? Did unicorns once walk the planet? Well, kind of.
Back in 2016, the scientific world was abuzz with the discovery of a fossilized remain found in Siberia. As the Washington Postreported at the time:
“According to a study published last month in the American Journal of Applied Science, a species called Elasmotherium sibiricum — the ‘Siberian unicorn’ — went extinct much later than previously thought. Researchers from Tomsk State University believe they’ve found fossil evidence of a Siberian unicorn prancing around just 29,000 years ago — more than 300,000 years after they were thought to have gone extinct.”
Granted, what you see above looks more like a rhino than a unicorn, but he does have one heck of a horn sprouting from his head, which makes him a form of unicorn. As Ancient Origins notes, the Siberian unicorn was a massive animal:
“The E. sibiricum , was the size of a mammoth, covered in hair, and is thought to have had a large horn protruding from its forehead, hence the title ‘Siberian Unicorn.’ According to early estimated descriptions, the beast stood around 2 meters (6.56 ft.) tall, 4.5 meters (14.76 ft.) long, and weighted an impressive 4 tons.”
For hundreds of years, the only evidence to prove that such a creature existed was a jawbone unearthed in 1808 by Johan Fischer von Waldheim, the Dirécteur Perpétuel of the Natural History Museum at Moscow University. This allowed for the species to be named.
The search for more proof took place in vain until March of 2016, when an entire fossilized skull was found:
“In March 2016, a beautifully preserved skull was found in the Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan proving that the animal lived until the Pleistocene era, some 29,000 years ago, instead of the previously held belief that they had died out 350,000 years ago. Based on the size and condition of the skull, it has been suggested that it was a very old male, but it is uncertain how the beast died.”
Fossil of Elasmotherium head on display at the Natural History Museum, London (Via Wikipedia)
Unicorn Legends
Throughout history, in nearly every culture, the idea of unicorns has existed:
“Legends of the unicorn, or a beast with a single horn, have been around for millennia in China and Eastern Europe. The Chinese ‘K’i-lin,’referring to some sort of beast, was translated into Turkish and Mongolic languages and lore. While the writers in all these languages did not know how to describe the beast, one common theme was the single horn, along with their vast stature.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByvVFvdAlqF/
And it appears that the Siberian unicorn may well have been the creature that piqued the interest of mankind over the centuries.
In 1866, Vasily Radlov was told about a legend among the Yakut people of Siberia of a “huge black bull” that had been felled by a single spear. The creature was said to be so massive that its body had to be transported on a sled. And there are similar legends in the area which include “a large white or blue woolly bull” that had a horn protruding from its forehead.
Many cultures have had a legend of the unicorn that fits the description of the Siberian creature (Public Domain)
In Russia, ballads were written about the Siberian unicorn:
“From medieval Northern Russia comes a collection of ballads, called ‘Golubinaia kniga’ or ‘The Book of the Dove,’ coming from Zoroastrianism, but with Christian overtones. These ballads show a righteous unicorn battling a lion, representing lies. The unicorn of these tales lived in a Holy mountain, and it was believed to be the mother and father of all animals. This creature saved the world from drought by digging springs of pure and clean water with its horn. At night, it wandered the plains and forged a path with that very same horn.”
The same creature also makes an appearance in other religious texts, but usually in a symbolic fashion instead of as a real entity.:
“The Arabo-Persian word for unicorn actually conflates unicorn and rhinoceros, looking to the rhinoceros as a bringer of truth and good in the world. In Christianity, the single horn is seen as a symbol of monotheism.”
Maiden with Unicorn, 15th-century tapestry (Public Domain)
What Became of the Siberian Unicorn?
Since we have fossil evidence that proves a large beast with a single horn was indeed real, that begs the question: What happened to these creatures. Unfortunately, answers to that question are as shrouded in mystery as unicorns themselves:
“Residue findings show a long habitation of these ancient rhinos in the southeast of the West Siberian Plain. However, there is no clear reason why the final Siberian unicorns died out. Researchers have been looking into the specific environmental factors that may have caused the extinction of this species, as it may lead to answers to the extinction facing various species today.”
More research and more discoveries are necessary if we are to ever fully understand and appreciate the one unicorn that did likely make an appearance on Earth.
An excavation in a cave occupied by Neanderthals in Spain has uncovered what is considered to be the last necklace ever made by our distant cousins, which features eagle talons that had symbolic meaning and value.
Around 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals roamed the Iberian peninsula and occupied caves near the Mediterranean coast. One such cave, known as Foradada Cave, is located in the Province of Valencia just over two miles from the sea.
Foradada Cave in Spain, where Neanderthals lived and where the team found eagle talons used to make the last Neanderthal necklaces. Image via Science Advances.Foradada Cave from the inside. Image via Science Advances.
Excavations there have been ongoing since the 1970s. But in 2010, researchers uncovered something extraordinary. They found a complete Neanderthal skeleton, the most complete ever discovered on the Iberian peninsula.
Near the end of their existence, the last Neanderthals in Europe were part of châtelperronian culture (CP), a time when the hominid species made distinctive cutting tools and came into contact with Homo sapiens, also known as modern humans.
Neanderthal cutting tools distinctive of the Châtelperronian culture. Image via Science Advances.
During a recent excavation, researchers made yet another fascinating discovery that sheds even more light on this period of Neanderthal history and culture in the form of eagle talons, which may have been used to make jewelry or ornaments to symbolize status.
Evidence for the symbolic behavior of Neanderthals in the use of personal ornaments is relatively scarce. Among the few ornaments documented, eagle talons, which were presumably used as pendants, are the most frequently recorded.
This phenomenon appears concentrated in a specific area of southern Europe during a span of 80 thousand years. Here, we present the analysis of one eagle pedal phalange recovered from the Châtelperronian layer of Foradada Cave (Spain).
Our research broadens the known geographical and temporal range of this symbolic behavior, providing the first documentation of its use among the Iberian populations, as well as of its oldest use in the peninsula.
The recurrent appearance of large raptor talons throughout the Middle Paleolithic time frame, including their presence among the last Neanderthal populations, raises the question of the survival of some cultural elements of the Middle Paleolithic into the transitional Middle to Upper Paleolithic assemblages and beyond.
Based on the marks made on the bones, the researchers believe that the eagle talons were arranged as a necklace, making it one of the final pieces of jewelry made by Neanderthals before they went extinct.
Marks cut into eagle talons by Neanderthals can be seen prominently in this series of images. Image via Science Advances.
“This would be the last necklace made by the Neanderthals,” Institute of Evolution in Africa researcher Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo said in a press release by the University of Barcelona. “Neanderthals used eagle talons as symbolic elements, probably as necklace pendants, from the beginnings of the mid Palaeolithic.”
The study details the markings found on several eagle talons.
The phalange presents 12 cut marks on the dorsal side of the diaphysis, appearing along approximately two-thirds of the phalanx’s total length. Most of the cuts are oriented obliquely to the principal axis of the bone, ranging from the proximal epiphysis to distal extremity of the bone.
These striae are found oriented parallel among themselves. All these oblique cuts are deep and present both composed striae and associated shoulder effect as deep as the principal groove like those produced by retouched stone tools. An additional incision can be observed, presented obliquely oriented with a longitudinal tendency.
This last mark is more superficial than the previous marks and superimposes all other incisions. The 12 incisions observed present an average length of 3.67 mm and width of 0.23 mm. A general increase in the opening angle of each groove can be observed, while a similar pattern is observed through a decrease in depth of each profile along the groove.
Past findings of eagle talons in southern Europe, such as those found in Mandrin cave, support this new discovery at Foradada cave, as does a previous study in 2015 of several polished eagle talons found at the turn of the 20th century.
Cutting marks on eagle talons found in Mandrin cave in southern Europe back up the recent finding. Image via Wikimedia.
The researchers also agree that eagle talons, along with talons of different bird species, were used as a form of communication.
Current inferences regarding talons interpreted as ornaments highlight them to be “surviving traces of ancient human communication”, and precisely because of this, talons of different birds with different appearances and behaviors could transmit different messages about the identity of the bearer. In contrast, these archaic populations might not have needed to taxonomically differentiate between large raptor species, regardless of whether they could or not.
However, the team pointed out that the hypothesis that these talons were used as ornaments has been investigated with caution because it’s hard to know for sure exactly what these talons meant to the Neanderthals or what they were used for. But they argue that their research makes it clear the symbolic use of eagle talons by Neanderthals was a tradition for thousands of years, and different sizes may have helped separate groups recognize each other. It’s similar to how early humans used seashells as ornaments and necklaces, only Neanderthal use of eagle talons predates human use of seashells in Africa and the Levant.
Although researchers tend to agree on the symbolic nature of talons, their definition of these elements as personal ornaments has been explored with prudence. Most have advocated defining the talons as “supposed ornaments,” while others have opted to refer to these finds directly as an example of “Neanderthal jewelry”.
In accepting the use of talons as personal ornaments, this can be considered a tradition that predates any other manifestation of symbolism among Neanderthals, especially those in which seashells play a central role. If not, this manifestation also entails important implications for the emergence of symbolism and behavioral modernity, although further investigation is necessary to establish the functionality behind these objects.
Regardless of whether the talons were hanging “beads,” part of necklaces, earrings, or any other elements for which there are no current parallels, the case of Foradada indicates the symbolic use of talons to be a well-rooted tradition among the Neanderthals of southern Europe for more than 80 millennia.
Furthermore, our research suggests the presence of a common cultural territory in which the meaning conveyed by these large-raptor talons could probably be recognized by individuals from different groups. To date, the total absence of raptor talon exploitation in the African Paleolithic record forces us to ask ourselves for the direction of cultural interactions between Neanderthals and modern humans.
The team was also able to identify the talons as belonging to the Iberian or Spanish Imperial Eagle or a close relative, thus contributing to the evolutionary history of the eagle as well.
Foradada specimens can contribute to our knowledge of the evolutionary history of imperial eagles. If the specimens presented in this paper belong to A. adalberti or their ancestor, then they would be the oldest recorded find of the species so far. If these remains belong to the species A. heliaca, then it would be the first occurrence of this species in the fossil record of Iberia (for the whole of the Quaternary, Pleistocene, or Holocene periods).
The Spanish Imperial Eagle was valued by Neanderthals for its talons. Image via Wikimedia.
And it’s not just Neanderthals who made necklaces out of eagle talons. Humans continued this Neanderthal tradition by making jewelry using talons, but also with bear claws and the teeth and claws of many different animals. Some of the best examples of this are found in Native American culture.
Needless to say, this is an extraordinary find that only adds to the evidence that Neanderthal culture is more complex than we have previously believed, all while providing new information about them with the added bonus of new knowledge about the evolution of imperial eagles. It’s the kind of find that scientists dream of making.
