Gibraltar 2

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Gibraltar 2
Common nameGibraltar 2
Species Homo neanderthalensis
Place discovered Devil's Tower Mousterian Rock Shelter, Gibraltar
Date discovered1926
Discovered by Dorothy Garrod

Gibraltar 2, also known as Devil's Tower Child, represented five skull fragments of a male [1] Neanderthal child discovered in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The discovery of the fossils at the Devil's Tower Mousterian rock shelter was made by archaeologist Dorothy Garrod in 1926. It represented the second excavation of a Neanderthal skull in Gibraltar, after Gibraltar 1, the second Neanderthal skull ever found (after Engis 2). In the early twenty-first century,[ when? ] Gibraltar 2 underwent reconstruction.[ citation needed ]

Contents

History of Gibraltar 1

Gibraltar 1 was discovered by Edmund Flint in 1848. Neanderthal skull from Forbes' Quarry.jpg
Gibraltar 1 was discovered by Edmund Flint in 1848.

Prehistoric man resided in Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. [2] [3] The evidence was first found in the Devil's Tower Road area, at Forbes' Quarry, in the north face of the Rock of Gibraltar. This was the site of the 1848 discovery of the first Neanderthal skull by Lieutenant Edmund Flint (d. 12 January 1857) of the Royal Artillery. [4] [5] [6] The fossil, an adult female skull, is referred to as Gibraltar 1 or the Gibraltar Skull (pictured at left). Neanderthals were unknown at the time that the fossil was found. Lieutenant Flint, secretary of the Gibraltar Scientific Society, presented his discovery to the organisation on 3 March 1848. [5] [6] Eight years later, in 1856, fossils were discovered in a cave of the Neander Valley near Düsseldorf, Germany. Those remains were described in 1864 as Homo neanderthalensis by Professor William King of Queen's College, Galway, now University College. [5] Later that year, the Gibraltar Skull was sent to England and exhibited by George Busk at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, with its similarity to the Neander Valley fossils noted. However, it wasn't until the early twentieth century[ when? ] that it was realized[ by whom? ] that Gibraltar 1 was the skull of a Neanderthal. If the skull's significance had been understood in the nineteenth century, Neanderthal Man would probably have been termed "Gibraltar Man". [4] [5] [6]

Discovery of Gibraltar 2

Archaeologist Dorothy Garrod discovered Gibraltar 2 in 1926. Dorothy Garrod.jpg
Archaeologist Dorothy Garrod discovered Gibraltar 2 in 1926.

Additional evidence of Neanderthal occupation in Gibraltar was found at the Devil's Tower Mousterian rock shelter, also at the north face of the Rock of Gibraltar. [5] [6] [7] Devil's Tower was a seventeenth century watchtower which was located at the eastern end of Devil's Tower Road. [4] The archaeological site was initially discovered by Abbé Henri Édouard Prosper Breuil (1877 – 1961), who had recommended investigation. Breuil, a French paleontologist and archaeologist, is renowned for his expertise on prehistoric cave art.[ citation needed ]

The excavations at the Devil's Tower cave started in November 1925 and continued until December 1926 in three phases. In 1926, the skull of a Neanderthal child was discovered by archaeologist Dorothy Garrod. [6] [7] [8] Garrod, who had studied with Breuil in Paris, went on to perform archaeological excavations in France, Palestine, Kurdistan, and Bulgaria. She was the first female professor at both the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. In addition, in 1939, Garrod was elected to the Disney Chair. [8] Garrod found five skull fragments which were described by the archaeologist and others in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in 1928. The five fragments were maxillary, parietal, temporal, cranial, and mandibular. [7] [9] [10] Mousterian flake stone tools were found near the child's remains. The skull of the male Neanderthal child is known as Gibraltar 2 or Devil's Tower Child (pictured above). [5] [6] [9]

In a study described in 1993 in the Journal of Human Evolution , the striation pattern of the dental enamel of the Devil's Tower Child fossil was compared to that of modern hunter-gatherers and medieval individuals from Spain. It was found that the Devil's Tower Child had a more abrasive diet than medieval individuals. Gibraltar 2 had a high number of striations. Further, the ratio of horizontal to vertical striations suggested that Gibraltar 2 may have been primarily carnivorous. [11] The child is estimated to have been about four years old at the time of death. [12]

By 2008, the face of the Devil's Tower Child had been reconstructed (pictured below) at the University of Zurich by means of computer-assisted paleoanthropology (CAP). This involved using computed tomography (CT) to perform volume data acquisition of the five skull fragments unearthed by Garrod in 1926. The five cranial fragments were then transformed with the software FoRM-IT into virtual 3D images. With the five virtual images then suspended in anatomical space according to scientific criteria, the missing fragments were replaced with mirror images of the excavated fragments. By means of laser stereolithography, the virtual reconstruction of the face and skull of the Devil's Tower Child was converted to a physical model. The soft tissues were then approximated using 3D Thin Plate Splining (TPS) with data from a modern child. Plasticine modelling clay was accordingly applied on the physical model to simulate soft tissue. The final model of Gibraltar 2 was then cast; finishing touches included paint and human hair (link to final image below). [10]

Gibraltar as a refugium

At the end of the 20th century, it was believed that the Neanderthals disappeared c. 35,000 years ago. In 2006, radiocarbon dating of charcoal from Gorham's Cave, Gibraltar, suggested that Neanderthals survived in southern Spain and Gibraltar at least to 28,000 BP, well after the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe c. 40,000 years ago. [5] [6] [13] More recently, new decontaminated radiocarbon dating (from the same Oxford laboratory that published the late date in 2006) suggests Neanderthals had vacated Gibraltar by 42,000 BP, earlier than elsewhere in Europe.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock of Gibraltar</span> Monolithic limestone promontory located in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar

The Rock of Gibraltar is a highly strategic monolithic limestone mountain 426 m (1,398 ft) high dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated near the end of a narrow 9 km long promontory stretching due south into the Mediterranean Sea and is located within the British territory of Gibraltar, and is 27 km north-east of Tarifa, Spain, the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The rock serves as an impregnable fortress and contains a labyrinthine network of man-made tunnels known as the Tunnels of Gibraltar. Most of the Rock's upper area comprises a nature reserve which is home to about 300 Barbary macaques. It is a major tourist attraction.

Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Garrod</span> British archaeologist, 1892–1968

Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod, CBE, FBA was an English archaeologist who specialised in the Palaeolithic period. She held the position of Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge from 1939 to 1952, and was the first woman to hold a chair at either Oxford or Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kebara Cave</span> Cave in Israel

Kebara Cave is a limestone cave locality in Wadi Kebara, situated at 60 to 65 m above sea level on the western escarpment of the Carmel Range, in the Ramat HaNadiv preserve of Zichron Yaakov.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabun Cave</span> Cave in northern Israel

The Tabun Cave is an excavated site located at Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve, Israel and is one of the Human Evolution sites at Mount Carmel, which were proclaimed as having universal value by UNESCO in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gorham's Cave</span> Cave and archaeological site in Gibraltar

Gorham's Cave is a sea-level cave in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Though not a sea cave, it is often mistaken for one. Considered to be one of the last known habitations of the Neanderthals in Europe, the cave gives its name to the Gorham's Cave complex, which is a combination of four distinct caves of such importance that they are combined into a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the only one in Gibraltar. The three other caves are Vanguard Cave, Hyaena Cave, and Bennett's Cave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neanderthal 1</span> Neanderthal fossils

Feldhofer 1 or Neanderthal 1 is the scientific name of the 40,000-year-old type specimen fossil of the species Homo neanderthalensis, discovered in August 1856 in a German cave, the Kleine Feldhofer Grotte, in the Neandertal valley, 13 km (8.1 mi) east of Düsseldorf. In 1864, the fossil's description was first published in a scientific magazine and officially named. Neanderthal was not the first Neanderthal fossil discovery. Other Neanderthal fossils had been discovered earlier, but their true nature and significance had not been recognized, and, therefore, no separate species name was assigned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teshik-Tash 1</span> Archaeological site in Uzbekistan

Teshik-Tash 1 is a Neanderthal skeleton discovered in 1938 in Teshik-Tash Cave, in the Bajsuntau mountain range, Uzbek SSR (Uzbekistan), Central Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothea Bate</span> Welsh palaeontologist and archaeozoologist

Dorothea Minola Alice Bate, also known as Dorothy Bate, was a Welsh palaeontologist and pioneer of archaeozoology. Her life's work was to find fossils of recently extinct mammals with a view to understanding how and why giant and dwarf forms evolved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh</span> Archaeological site in Israel

Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh is a prehistoric archaeological site in Upper Galilee, Israel. It is situated 800 m (2,600 ft) from the Nahal Amud outlet, approximately 30 m (98 ft) above the wadi bed. It was found to house a fossil today known as the "Galilee skull" or "The Yabrudian Man".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gibraltar 1</span> Hominin fossil

Gibraltar 1 is the name given to a Neanderthal skull, also known as the Gibraltar Skull, which was discovered at Forbes' Quarry in Gibraltar. The skull was presented to the Gibraltar Scientific Society by its secretary, Lieutenant Edmund Henry Réné Flint, on 3 March 1848. This discovery predates the finding of the Neanderthal type specimen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devil's Tower (Gibraltar)</span>

The Devil's Tower was an ancient watchtower in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar close to a rock shelter where fossil remains of a Neanderthal child were discovered, together with palaeolithic tools. The Tower and remains, however, were unrelated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibex Cave</span>

Ibex Cave is a limestone cave on the Rock of Gibraltar which has yielded stone artifacts of Mousterian tradition. It was discovered in 1975. It is so named as an ibex skull was found within the cave which would have been hunted by the Neanderthals of Gibraltar thousands of years ago. Ibex Cave was named and excavated by the Gibraltar Museum in 1994. Its first formal description was in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cueva de la Pileta</span> Cave and archaeological site in Spain

Cueva de la Pileta is a cave in the province of Málaga, Spain, that was discovered in 1905 and contains cave paintings.

Devil's Tower Cave is a cave in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Archaeologist Dorothy Garrod found a Neanderthal skull in the cave which, together with other evidence found in this cave, shows it was used as a rock shelter by the Neanderthals of Gibraltar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willoughby Verner</span> Soldier, writer and ornithologist

Colonel William Willoughby Cole Verner was a British soldier, writer, ornithologist, and inventor of a type of compass. He was briefly a Professor of Topography at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He is remembered for bringing Cueva de la Pileta, a cave filled with prehistoric paintings, to international attention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neanderthals in Gibraltar</span>

The Neanderthals in Gibraltar were among the first to be discovered by modern scientists and have been among the most well studied of their species according to a number of extinction studies which emphasize regional differences, usually claiming the Iberian Peninsula partially acted as a “refuge” for the shrinking Neanderthal populations and the Gibraltar population of Neanderthals as having been one of many dwindling populations of archaic human populations, existing just until around 42,000 years ago. Many other Neanderthal populations went extinct around the same time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scladina</span> Caves and archaeological site in Belgium

Scladina, or Sclayn Cave, is an archaeological site located in Wallonia in the town of Sclayn, in the Andenne hills in Belgium, where excavations since 1978 have provided the material for an exhaustive collection of over thirteen thousand Mousterian stone artifacts and the fossilized remains of an especially ancient Neanderthal, called the Scladina child were discovered in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engis 2</span> Neanderthal fossil discovered in the early 19th-century in modern day Belgium

Engis 2 refers to part of an assemblage, discovered in 1829 by Dutch physician and naturalist Philippe-Charles Schmerling in the lower of the Schmerling Caves. The pieces that make up Engis 2 are a partially preserved calvaria (cranium) and associated fragments of an upper and a lower jaw, a maxillary bone and an upper incisor tooth of a two to three year old Neanderthal child. The Schmerling Caves are situated just north of the Belgian municipality Engis, whence the name of this group. In 1833 Schmerling described and publicized the find, which included animal bones and stone tools. Recognizing their old age, he associated them with the "Ethiopian Type" of the diluvial period. Although it was not recognized as such until 1936, the publication represents the first scientific description of a Neanderthal fossil.

Yusra is the name of the Palestinian woman who worked with Dorothy Garrod, British archaeologist, in her excavations at Mount Carmel. Although very little is known of Yusra's life before or after, or even her full name, she was a prominent member of the excavation team between 1929 and 1935. She is credited with the discovery of Tabun 1, a 120,000-year-old Neanderthal skull from Tabun Cave. Yusra was identified by Dr Pamela Jane Smith during her PhD research at Cambridge University. She is a oral historian of British and Canadian twentieth-century archaeology where she investigates the creation, production and 'travel' of academic knowledge.

References

  1. ↑ "A new look at the Gibraltar Neanderthals". Natural History Museum . Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  2. ↑ "List of Crown Dependencies & Overseas Territories". fco.gov.uk. Foreign and Commonwealth Office . Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  3. ↑ Roach, John (13 September 2006). "Neandertals' Last Stand Was in Gibraltar, Study Suggests". National Geographic News. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on November 14, 2006. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 "A historical event". 7 Days – Gibraltar's Free Weekly Newspaper. Retrieved 11 October 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rose, Edward P. F.; Stringer, Christopher B. (September–October 1997). "Gibraltar woman and Neanderthal Man". Geology Today . 13 (5). Blackwell Science Ltd: 179–184. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2451.1997.00010.x. S2CID   128419762 . Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Hominid Hunting – The Rock of Gibraltar: Neanderthals' Last Refuge". Smithsonian Institution. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  7. 1 2 3 Dorothy A.E. Garrod; L.H. Dudley Buxton; G. Elliot Smith; Dorothea M.A. Bate; R.C. Spiller; M.A.C. Hinton; Paul Fischer (1928). "Excavation of a Mousterian Rock-shelter at Devil's Tower, Gibraltar". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 58. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland: 33–113. JSTOR   4619528.
  8. 1 2 "Biographies – Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod, 1892–1968". newn.cam.ac.uk. Newnham College, University of Cambridge . Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Gibraltar 2". nespos.org. Nespos . Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  10. 1 2 "Computer-Assisted Paleoanthropology". aim.uzh.ch. University of Zurich. 2008. Archived from the original on 12 February 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  11. ↑ Fox, C. Lalueza; Pérez-Pérez, A (January 1993). "The diet of the Neanderthal Child Gibraltar 2 (Devil's Tower) through the study of the vestibular striation pattern". Journal of Human Evolution . 24 (1): 29–41. doi:10.1006/jhev.1993.1004.
  12. ↑ "Gibraltar Neanderthals in Science and Technology Yearbook" (PDF). Government of Gibraltar. 6 March 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  13. ↑ Rincon, Paul (13 September 2006). "Neanderthals' 'last rock refuge'". BBC News . Retrieved 12 October 2012.
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