Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Shanidar Cave is a unique archaeological site in Kurdistan where scientists found the remains of 10 Neanderthal men, women, and children. Some of these individuals had survived serious injuries, and one seemed to have been buried with flowers beneath his body. The discoveries at Shanidar challenged long-standing ideas of who Neanderthals were and what separates our species from theirs. Now, more than 50 years after the original excavations, scientists have returned to Shanidar to answer lingering questions about the Neanderthals who lived and died there.
leakeyfoundation.org
Links to learn more
The Shanidar Cave Project
shanidarcaveproject.com
Ralph Solecki's excavations
shanidarcaveproject.com/previous-excavations
Ralph S. and Rose L. and Solecki Papers at the Smithsonian
https://sova.si.edu/record/naa.2016-29
Shanidar Z: 75,000-year-old face revealed
cam.ac.uk/stories/shanidar-z-face-revealed
More about Shanidar Z
shanidarcaveproject.com/shanidar-z
Shanidar Cave location
geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Shanidar_Cave¶ms=36.831593_N_44.221083_E_type:landmark
New Shanidar research on cooking
cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/cooking-in-caves-palaeolithic-carbonised-plant-food-remains-from-franchthi-and-shanidar/0CB510C9E528CD7AD923469D78E14E42
Revisiting the flower burial
cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/cooking-in-caves-palaeolithic-carbonised-plant-food-remains-from-franchthi-and-shanidar/0CB510C9E528CD7AD923469D78E14E42
Shanidar: The First Flower People (pdf of book by Ralph Solecki)
archive.org/details/shanidarfirstflo00sole/page/n7/mode/2up
Sponsors
Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a donor-supported nonprofit dedicated to funding human origins research and sharing discoveries to advance public understanding of science.
This episode is generously sponsored by Dub and Ginny Crook. Dub and Ginny are long-time Leakey Foundation Fellows who directly support scientific research and science communication projects. They are passionate about human origins research and making science accessible for all. We are deeply grateful for their support.
Origin Stories is listener-supported. Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, the Anne and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.
Credits
This episode was produced and written by Ray Pang and Meredith Johnson.
Sound design by Ray Pang.
Our editor is Audrey Quinn.
Michael Gallagher helped record the interviews at Cambridge.
Our theme music is by Henry Nagle with additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.
Shanidar Cave is a unique archaeological site in Kurdistan where scientists found the remains of 10 Neanderthal men, women, and children. Some of these individuals had survived serious injuries, and one seemed to have been buried with flowers beneath his body. The discoveries at Shanidar challenged long-standing ideas of who Neanderthals were and what separates our species from theirs. Now, more than 50 years after the original excavations, scientists have returned to Shanidar to answer lingering questions about the Neanderthals who lived and died there.
leakeyfoundation.org
Links to learn more
The Shanidar Cave Project
shanidarcaveproject.com
Ralph Solecki's excavations
shanidarcaveproject.com/previous-excavations
Ralph S. and Rose L. and Solecki Papers at the Smithsonian
https://sova.si.edu/record/naa.2016-29
Shanidar Z: 75,000-year-old face revealed
cam.ac.uk/stories/shanidar-z-face-revealed
More about Shanidar Z
shanidarcaveproject.com/shanidar-z
Shanidar Cave location
geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Shanidar_Cave¶ms=36.831593_N_44.221083_E_type:landmark
New Shanidar research on cooking
cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/cooking-in-caves-palaeolithic-carbonised-plant-food-remains-from-franchthi-and-shanidar/0CB510C9E528CD7AD923469D78E14E42
Revisiting the flower burial
cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/cooking-in-caves-palaeolithic-carbonised-plant-food-remains-from-franchthi-and-shanidar/0CB510C9E528CD7AD923469D78E14E42
Shanidar: The First Flower People (pdf of book by Ralph Solecki)
archive.org/details/shanidarfirstflo00sole/page/n7/mode/2up
Sponsors
Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a donor-supported nonprofit dedicated to funding human origins research and sharing discoveries to advance public understanding of science.
This episode is generously sponsored by Dub and Ginny Crook. Dub and Ginny are long-time Leakey Foundation Fellows who directly support scientific research and science communication projects. They are passionate about human origins research and making science accessible for all. We are deeply grateful for their support.
Origin Stories is listener-supported. Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, the Anne and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.
Credits
This episode was produced and written by Ray Pang and Meredith Johnson.
Sound design by Ray Pang.
Our editor is Audrey Quinn.
Michael Gallagher helped record the interviews at Cambridge.
Our theme music is by Henry Nagle with additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.
