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Résumés des journées 2026

A first report on the conservation of the Shanidar A Neanderthal

Un premier rapport sur la conservation du Néandertalien Shanidar A
Lucía López-Polín, Katerina Theodoraki, James Holman, Chris Hunt, Tim Reynolds, Jessica Twyman, Graeme Barker et Emma Pomeroy

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1In the 1950s a team led by Ralph Solecki excavated the remains of ten Neanderthal individuals from two different periods at Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. Excavations resumed in 2015 with a new team, and the remains of at least three individuals were unearthed in an area adjacent to the cluster of individuals found in 1960 who had been named Shanidar 4, 6, 8 and 9. These new remains have been named A, B and Z, as their relationship to the formerly numbered individuals remains unclear. Investigations are ongoing, and one of the initial challenges has been to clean and stabilise the new remains for study. Considerable effort has been devoted to a lengthy conservation process, which is still ongoing, but has already stabilised and reconstructed most of the new remains.

2This is the first report on the conservation of Shanidar A, the incomplete skeletal remains of an individual excavated in 2022, who lay approximately 10 cm below Shanidar Z. Shanidar A comprises a complete left scapula, two left ribs in anatomical position, a complete right hand, and a number of anterior teeth. The bone was mostly soft and friable in the field, so they were impregnated with an acrylic-based consolidant (Paraloid B72 dissolved in acetone). Cotton gauze and consolidant were applied to the scapula before lifting with the underlying sediment, given its remarkable completeness and extreme fragility. Once in the research facilities, the bones were microCT scanned prior to conservation treatment, which involved cleaning, consolidating and restoring the elements. The Shanidar A bones are now clean, stable and almost completely reconstructed. The extremely thin infraspinous fossa of the scapula, which had been crushed in situ, illustrates the importance of taking conservation measures from the moment of excavation to safeguard unique remains.

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Lucía López-Polín, Katerina Theodoraki, James Holman, Chris Hunt, Tim Reynolds, Jessica Twyman, Graeme Barker et Emma Pomeroy, « A first report on the conservation of the Shanidar A Neanderthal »Bulletins et mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris [En ligne], 38(S) | 2026, mis en ligne le 16 décembre 2025, consulté le 08 mars 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/bmsap/17359 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/15hig

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Auteurs

Lucía López-Polín

Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona, Spain ; Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain ; University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom ; lucia.lopezpolin[at]iphes.cat

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Katerina Theodoraki

University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

James Holman

Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, United Kingdom

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Chris Hunt

Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom

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Tim Reynolds

Birkbeck, Univeristy of London, London, United Kingdom

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Jessica Twyman

Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, United Kingdom

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Graeme Barker

University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

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Emma Pomeroy

University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

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