Typology and Use-Wear of the Palaeolithic Stone Tools from the Recent Excavations (2015 to 2023) of Shanidar Cave (Iraqi Kurdistan)

Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan, is among the most significant Neanderthal sites. Excavations by Ralph Solecki in the 1950s unearthed the remains of at least ten Neanderthals and associated Middle Palaeolithic Mousterian stone tools which have played a crucial role in our understanding of Neanderthal behaviour. Solecki also identified Upper Palaeolithic deposits containing Baradostian tools (broadly equivalent to the Aurignacian industry) separated from the Neanderthal layer by 1 metre of sediment, which he interpreted as reflecting a 10,000-year hiatus. Recent excavations (2015 – present) using single-context excavation, with three-dimensional plotting of all artefacts bigger than 2 cm, have improved our understanding of the site’s inhabitants. Lithics recovered from Shanidar Cave were identified and attributed to typological class. The results of typological analysis show that there is a contextual overlap between typologically Mousterian and Baradostian artefacts, and that there is no evidence for a hiatus in occupation at the site. Blades and bladelets, tool forms not usually associated with Neanderthals, were recovered from secure contexts dating to MIS 5a including from contexts containing Neanderthal skeletal remains. Use-wear analysis conducted using a DINO-LITE Edge digital microscope showed that 106 lithics retain evidence of use. The materials worked include wood, hide, meat and bone, bone, horn and plants. There is no significant difference in worked materials between MIS 5 and MIS 3 at Shanidar Cave. The results of typological analysis at Shanidar Cave suggest that assigning a particular tool industry to a particular hominin group may be problematic, which has implications for the wider region. The results of use-wear analysis suggest that there are no behavioural differences between MIS 5 hominins and MIS 3 hominins at Shanidar.