Neanderthals buried their dead

Ever since the discovery, over a hundred years ago, of a Neanderthal burial site at La Chapelle-aux-Saints in southwestern France, controversy has raged within the scientific community about Neanderthal funerary practices, especially burials. New archaeological excavations at the site and a reassessment of the human remains discovered in the early twentieth century provide conclusive evidence that Neanderthals buried their dead, thus settling the debate. The findings, by a team of CNRS researchers, the research company Archéosphère, and the University of Bordeaux, together with members of INRAP (Institut de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives) and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, highlight the fundamentally modern behavior of Neanderthals with regard to death. They are published this week on the website of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

Fuente : http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=1...