A grave in the mountains
In 1938, Soviet archaeologist Aleksey Okladnikov was excavating a cave in the Baysun-Tau mountains of Uzbekistan when he uncovered something unexpected. In a shallow pit lay the fragmented skeleton of a Neanderthal child, a specimen now known as Teshik-Tash 1. The discovery was remarkable for its location; at the time, it was the easternmost Neanderthal remains ever found, but for its unusual context. Surrounding the child's skull was a distinct circle of five or six pairs of Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica) horn cores, pushed into the earth.
The remains were found within one of five layers of sediment containing Mousterian stone tools, an industry strongly associated with Neanderthals that lasted from roughly 160,000 to 40,000 years ago. Dental analysis estimated the child was between 8 and 11 years old at the time of death. The skull itself, though broken into some 150 fragments, had classic Neanderthal features: a prominent brow ridge, an occipital bun at the back of the head, and the lack of a strong chin. Okladnikov’s immediate interpretation was that this was a ritual burial, with the ibex horns as a symbolic grave marker. For decades, this view suggested that Neanderthals possessed complex, symbolic thought and cared for their dead in a ceremonial way.