Our early human ancestors left behind archaeological clues whenever they went, but the ones they left in caves are often particularly well-preserved. From South Africa to Siberia, archaeologists have discovered prehistoric bones, fire ash and even fossilized human footprints inside caves.
Early humans may have used caves for shelter, but they also used them in ways that are hard for us to decipher. For example, France’s Bruniquel Cave contains large circular designs on the floor that Neanderthals made with stalagmites roughly 176,000 years ago. While modern humans can marvel at the designs, we can only wonder at why prehistoric artists made them. Below are six caves where our early human ancestors left intriguing evidence of their lives and development.
Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa
The Sterkfontein Caves in South Africa contain some of the oldest human ancestor fossils in the world—though exactly how old they are, and who they represent, is something that researchers are still debating.
In 1947, archaeologists at the Sterkfontein site discovered the most complete skull of an Australopithecus africanus, a bipedal human ancestor that lived in Southern Africa some 3.3 to 2.1 million years ago. They named the fossil “Mrs. Ples,” though more recent research has suggested the fossil could be male.
The other famous fossil from Sterkfontein is “Little Foot,” the most complete Australopithecus skeleton ever found. Previously, paleoanthropologists identified the fossil as Australopithecus africanus, like Mrs. Ples. However, researchers have more recently suggested Little Foot should be categorized as Australopithecus prometheus, and estimated its age at 3.67 million years old.
Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa
Researchers estimate that human ancestors began inhabiting South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave nearly 2 million years ago. Discoveries about the way our ancestors used the cave over time have helped shed light on human evolution.
Archaeologists have discovered simple stone tools in the cave that date to 1.8 million years ago. They’ve also identified ash that suggests human ancestors were cooking with fire in the cave as early as one million years ago. The suspected cooking ash is located nearly 100 feet from the cave’s entrance, and contains the remains of bones and plants.
In addition, archaeologists have dated rock engravings in Wonderwerk Cave to 10,000 years ago.
Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo
New episodes of Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo premiere Fridays at 10/9c and stream the following day.
Atapuerca Caves, Spain
Human ancestors began occupying caves in Spain’s Atapuerca mountains nearly one million years ago. At the Gran Dolina cave site, archaeologists have found the bones of six human ancestors mixed in with stone tools and the remains of deer, bison and rhinoceros. Researchers suggest these fossils—which date back 780,000 years—may be early evidence of cannibalism among human ancestors.
Why cannibalism? Well, the human bones “bear unmistakable traces of butchery with stone tools, including skinning and removal of flesh, as well as processing of the braincase and the long bones for marrow,” Scientific American reported in a 2001 article on the subject. “This pattern of butchery matches that seen on the nearby animal bones.”
Denisova Cave, Siberia
In 2010, researchers used DNA from a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia to identify a new human ancestor. Now known as the Denisovan, this ancestor takes its name from the Denisova Cave in which archaeologists found the DNA. While that particular Denisovan individual lived between 48,000 and 30,000 years ago, other archaeological evidence suggests human ancestors may have begun inhabiting Denisova Cave as early as 300,000 years ago.
The cave is also where archaeologists discovered a bone from “Denny,” a female human ancestor with a truly unique heritage: Her mother was Neanderthal, and her father was a Denisovan. Denny lived about 90,000 years ago, and her existence has shed new light on the relationships between different types of human ancestors.
Bruniquel Cave, France
Around 176,000 years ago, Neanderthals used stalagmites to create unique circular designs on the floor of France’s Bruniquel Cave. The stalagmites themselves show signs of burning, which might indicate that Neanderthals built fires within the circles.
Does this mean Neanderthals used the circular structures as places to gather around the hearth? Maybe, but they would’ve at least needed to use fire as a light source to construct the circles, since the chamber the stalagmites reside in is located about 1,000 feet from the cave’s entrance.
Neanderthals were the only known human ancestors living in Europe around 176,000 years ago, which is why researchers hypothesize that they were the architects of the stalagmite designs. Although Neanderthals existed alongside (and mated with) Homo sapiens, they disappeared around 40,000 years ago.
Theopetra Cave, Greece
The Theopetra Cave in Greece shows signs of human occupation that go back at least 130,000 years. This evidence includes fossilized footprints that may have come from two different people at two different times. One appears to be a bare left foot, complete with individual toes, while the other appears to be a left foot clothed in some type of material.
Like the Wonderwerk Cave, the Theopetra Cave shows signs of use over long periods of time that illustrate changes in human behavior. The Greek cave features a stone wall that humans constructed at least 23,000 years ago. There are also multiple buried skeletons that date between the 15th and 8th centuries, leading up to the period known as Ancient Greece.
