Mysterious Ancient Underground Stone Rings Made By Neanderthals 176,500 Years Ago For Unknown Reasons

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - Located deep in a cave in France, two mysterious ancient stone rings were made by a group of people who mastered the underground environment.

The stone rings were accidentally discovered in 1990 after having been untouched for thousands of years when a rockslide closed the mouth of a cave in Bruniquel, southwest France.

The builders of these stone rings, which are now considered to be one of the world’s oldest constructions, have puzzled archaeologists and historians for years, but recent research suggests the structure was constructed by Neanderthals 176,500 years ago, but it remains unknown why the underground stone rings were built.

The builders of these stone rings that are now considered to be one of the world’s oldest constructions have puzzled archaeologists and historians for years. Image credit: Nature

The discovery shows the Neanderthals were capable of more complex behavior than previously thought.

The structures were made from hundreds of pillar-shaped mineral deposits, called stalagmites, which were chopped to a similar length and laid out in two oval patterns up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) inches high.

Neanderthals Were Capable Of More Complex Behavior Than Previously Thought

The assumption that Neanderthals could have made the underground stone rings was previously rejected as it was widely considered these early humans were incapable of the kind of complex behavior necessary to work underground.

However, using sophisticated dating techniques, a team led by archaeologist Jacques Jaubert of the University of Bordeaux, France, found that the stalagmites must have been broken off the ground around 176,500 years ago “making these edifices among the oldest known well-dated constructions made by humans.”

The Neanderthals were resourceful and creative. Credit: Adobe Stock -Gorodenkoff

“Their presence at 336 meters (368 yards) from the entrance of the cave indicates that humans from this period had already mastered the underground environment, which can be considered a major step in human modernity,” the researchers concluded in a study published by the journal Nature.

The six structures are made of about 400 large, broken-off stalagmites, arranged in semi-circles up to 6.7 meters wide. The researchers think that the pieces were once stacked up to form rudimentary walls. All have signs of burning, suggesting that fires were made within the walls.

According to Jaubert, the carefully constructed rings could not have come about by chance or been assembled by animals such as the bears and wolves whose bones were found near the entrance of the cave.

The researchers have so far found no remains of early humans, stone tools, or other signs of occupation, but they think that Neanderthals made the structures because no other hominins were known in Western Europe at that time.

There is no doubt humans made the structures, Jaubert said.

Why Would The Neanderthals Bother To Construct Stone Rings Underground?

If Neanderthals did build the structures, it’s not at all clear why. “It’s a big mystery,” says Dominique Genty, a geoscientist at the Institute Pierre-Simon Laplace in Gif-sur-Yvette, whose team speculates that their purpose may have ranged from the spiritual to the more domestic. Evidence for symbolism among Neanderthals is limited, ranging from etchings on a cave wall to eagle talons possibly used as jewelry.

Jaubert thinks that the Neanderthals who built the stone rings must have had a “project” to go deep into a cave without natural light. It is possible they explored an underground cave system build the rings, using fire to illuminate the cave.

They probably explored underground as a group and cooperated to build the rings, using fire to illuminate the cave, he said. “These are exceptional tours, certainly for extraordinary reasons we do not yet know.”

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Paolo Villa, an archeologist at the University of Colorado in Boulder who was not a part of the study, says that the cave “provides strong evidence of the great antiquity of those elaborate structures and is an important contribution to a new understanding of the greater level of social complexities of Neanderthal societies.”

Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer