Illustration for an unidentified Ray Harryhausen film showing a caveman lying on the ground with a spear as he is attacked by a dinosaur, circa 1965. (Photo : Getty Images/Hulton Archive)
A team of archeologists has unearthed a number of mysterious structures from a deep and dark cave in southwestern France. The researchers believe that this cave was probably built by Neanderthals nearly 176,000 years ago.
These mysterious structures stand tall in France's Bruniquel cave. As described in the study published in the journal Nature, the researchers believe that these structures were built by Neanderthals about 140,000 years before the invasion of the modern humans in Europe.
An analysis of the cave revealed that the structures are made of approximately 400 stalagmite pieces. The striking fact about the ring-like structures in that they are all, roughly, of the same size.
The archaeologists working in the caves suspect that these mineral formations were probably broken off the cave floor. The broken pieces were deliberately arranged into a structure resembling two large rings and four round piles of approximately 15 inches in length each.
Accumulation of soot, both red and black, depict that the structures might have been built by the Neanderthals to contain fire. However, there are no such evidences found outside the structures. Perhaps, the structures might have been used to light the caves.
The recent discovery made by the researchers is, indeed, one of the earliest and finest examples of use of caves by early humans and the construction work done by them. The evidences recovered from the site further suggest that Neanderthals used to have better control over fire, than previously expected by archaeologists from around the world.
In addition, the researchers believe that the structures represent an extensive social and group work that must have existed at the time that of the Neanderthals.
"Building these structures was a project. It required an objective which has been discussed among several people and enough social organization to assign tasks," Jacques Jaubert of the University of Bordeaux in France told the Los Angeles Times. "Certainly, it was a collective work."
The organization of the mysterious structures and the evidences recovered from the site further depict that these could only be used by early humans. Any other animals such as bears would not have been able to use the cave.
The following video evolutionary history in human DNA with that of Neanderthals:
