The Fate of the Neanderthals

200 000 – 24 000 BP

H.neanderthaliensis compared to “Modern Humans”
aka H.sapiens sapiens,or Cro Magnon in French

A Neanderthal and a “Modern Man” side by side Mathilda's Anthropology blog

Although modern humans share 98% of their nuclear DNA with the extinct Neanderthals, the two species do not share any mitochondrial DNA, which in primates is always maternally transmitted. This observation has prompted the hypothesis that whereas female H. sapiens sapiens interbreeding with male Neanderthals were able to generate fertile offspring, the progeny of female Neanderthals who mated with male H. sapiens sapiens were either rare, absent or sterile in line with Haldane's rule: The hybrids from these pairings would lack Neandertal mtDNA, since mtDNA is passed only from the mother. But the male offspring would have Neandertal Y chromosomes. This is where Haldane’s rule kicks in: these males in their turn would not reproduce. Therefore only the female hybrids would pass on their genes. These females obviously don’t pass on a Y chromosome. And, they would pass on their non-Neandertal mother’s mtDNA.
While interbreeding is viewed as the most parsimonious interpretation of the genetic discoveries, the authors point out they cannot conclusively rule out an alternative scenario, in which the source population of non-African modern humans was already more closely related to Neanderthals than other Africans were, due to ancient genetic divisions within Africa.
Among the genes shown to differ between present-day humans and Neanderthals were RPTN, SPAG17, CAN15, TTF1 and PCD16 (Pääbo et al, 2010)
No supporting evidence has been found in mitochondrial DNA analyses of modern Europeans, suggesting at least that no direct maternal line originating with Neanderthals has survived into modern times
Wikipedia

Archaic human admixture with modern Homo sapiens is suspected by some to have occurred at least twice in history: with Neanderthals and with the Denisova hominin. A minimum estimated 1% to 4% of the DNA in Europeans and Asians (i.e. French, Chinese and Papua probands) is non-modern, and shared with ancient Neanderthal DNA rather than with Sub-Saharan Africans (i.e. Yoruba and San probands). However, in August 2012, a study by scientists at the University of Cambridge has questioned this conclusion, hypothesising instead that the DNA overlap is a remnant of a common ancestor of both Neanderthals and modern humans. A minimum additional estimated 4–6% of Melanesian DNA is from the archaic Denisovan hominins from Asia. Recent DNA analysis also indicates Sub-Saharan African admixture with a now extinct archaic population, possibly Homo erectus.
Wikipedia Admixture
Good General Text to Neanderthal evolution
Neanderthal mtDNA Analysis Mezmaiskaya

The Origins of the Neanderthals

300 000 -24 000 BP

Google-Map of Neanderthal Sites and their Migration

The Neanderthals are the only species of Homo which originated in Greater Europe. They did not emigrate Out of Africa themselves. However the place of their speciazation and its date are not known. Their migrations following the archeological evidence have taken them all over Western and Eastern Europe, the Levant, and the Middle East. Earliest Neanderthal bones from around 200 000 - 80 000 BP were found in England and in Israel – and possibly in Atapuerca, Spain. Around 20 000 BP the last Neanderthals died in Spain and Portugal – equally unexplained. The genetic analysis of the Neanderthal genome has just begun. Maybe it will eventually answer the questions of their birth and disappearance. - So far theories abound.

Atapuerca Sima de los Huesos
Central Spain
H.antecessor/ heidelberngesis/ Neanderthal? -
300-200 000 BP

The Atapuerca complex encompasses 9 extended caves with large finds of fossils, human and animals, going back 1.2 Million years. Of primary interest here are Grand Dolina (levels TD 11 to TD 1, 850 – 780 000 BP) and the Sima de los Huesos (350 -200 000 BP), the largest human bone pit ever found (over 5000 pieces, some complete); containing H. heidelbergensis, H. antecessor, and possibly “proto H. neanderthaliensis”.
In my unqualified opinion Atapuerca may be the place of speciazation of the Neanderthals in Europe, who did not come Out of Africa directly. The issue is hotly debated. The following are a number of references to this professional dispute:
P. Pettitt
Heidelberg or Neanderthal pit of bones?
Hominids from Sima Huesos Arsuanga et al

Bontnewydd Palaeolithic Site
Wales, UK
Neanderthal?
230 000 BP?
A most improbable location and date for a potential Neanderthal emergence is this Paleolithic site in England. Could these be bones of H. heidelbergensis?

Bontnewydd was excavated from 1978 by a team from the University of Wales, led by Dr Stephen Aldhouse Green. Teeth and part of a jawbone excavated in the cave in 1981 were dated to 230,000 years ago. The bone is from a Neanderthal(?) boy approximately eleven years old. The site is the most north-western site in Eurasia for remains of early hominids and would constitute one of the earliest Neanderthal finds.
Wikipedia

Near Eastern Neanderthal Sites

The Evolution of Neanderthal and H. sapiens Burial Customs

The alternative and professionally preferred Neanderthal speciazation site has long been the Levant with several sites dating to 80 000-45 000 BP.
The problem is that there are no obvious Neanderthal predecessors in the Levant – except, (highly unlikely) the first exodus of an early, Archaic H. sapiens from Ethiopia around 125 000 BP, which was abandoned when the climate turned cold and arid around 75 000 BP. Some anthropologists doubt that the two species ever met in the Levant before 60 000-45 000 BP when H. sapiens returned from the Indian Subcontinent after the Tuba explosion (73 000 BP)

Cave at Shanidar
Site in the Middle-East (modern Iraq)
Neanderthals
80 - 60 000 BP
One of the earliest encounters between Neanderthals and H.sapiens on their way from the Indian Subcontinent to Western Europe took place in today’s Iraq.

An artist's rendering of the Flower Burial of Shanidar 4

Of the ten Neanderthal skeletons found at the cave, it is Shanidar 4 which provides the best evidence for a Neanderthal burial ritual. The skeleton of an adult male aged from 30–45 years was discovered in 1960 by Ralph Solecki The skeleton was positioned so that he was lying on his left side in a partial fetal position.
Routine soil samples which were gathered for pollen analysis in an attempt to reconstruct the palaeoclimate and vegetational history of the site from around the body were analysed eight years after its discovery.
In two of the soil samples in particular, whole clumps of pollen were discovered in addition to the usual pollen found throughout the site and suggested that entire flowering plants (or at least heads of plants) had entered the grave deposit.
Furthermore, a study of the particular flower types suggested that the flowers may have been chosen for their specific medicinal properties. Yarrow, Cornflower, Bachelor's Button, St. Barnaby's Thistle, Ragwort or Groundsel, Grape Hyacinth, Joint Pine or Woody Horsetail and Hollyhock were represented in the pollen samples, all of which have long-known curative powers as diuretics, stimulants, astringents as well as anti-inflammatory properties. This led to the idea that the man could possibly have had shamanic powers, perhaps acting as medicine man to the Shanidar Neanderthals
Wikipedia

There exist two new findings related to violent encounters between H. sapiens and Neanderthals. Shanidar is the oldest.
New research suggests that Shanidar 3 (another adult male) may have been killed by a human being. Using modern-day forensics, Steven Churchill (Duke University) has determined that Shanidar 3's wound was most likely caused by a thrown spear. "There's only one species that had the sort of weapon to inflict this injury," Churchill says. "And that's us [H. sapiens sapiens]." The Neanderthals did not know thrown spears. Churchill found that the weapon that killed Shanidar 3 entered at about a 45-degree downward angle. According to Churchill, "That's consistent with the ballistic trajectory of a thrown weapon, assuming that Shanidar 3 — who was about 5 ft. 6 in. [1.67 m] tall — was standing." Churchill also found that Shanidar 3's rib had started healing before he died. Churchill hypothesized that Shanidar 3 probably died within a few weeks of the injury.....

A second example (30-28 000 BP) of a potential ritual killing of a Neanderthal child by Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) comes from Les Rois in Southern France (Ramirez Rozzi et al, 2009)

Another example of a killing of a possible Neanderthal(?) man is seen further below in a cave painting at Pech-Merle, Lot, France, 25-16 000 BP.

El Tabun Cave
Israel
Archaic H. sapiens?
120-40 000 BP

El Tabun Cave is an excavated site located at Mount Carmel, Israel, which was occupied intermittently during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic ages to around 40,000 BP. In the course of this period, deposits of sand, silt and clay of up to 25 meters accumulated in the cave. Excavation suggests that it features one of the longest sequences of human occupation in the Levant.

The Tabun Cave contains a Neanderthal-type(?) female, dated to about 120 000 BP. It is one of the most ancient human skeletal remains found in Israel, - If the date is not inflated, the woman was an Archaic H.sapiens not a Neanderthal. - See comments below under Qafzeh.

Kiyik Koba
Crimean
Neanderthals
70 000 BP?

Kiyik Koba may have been a retreat for Neanderthals after the Tuba explosion 73 000 BP

Kiyik-Koba 1, a Neandertal partial skeleton (canine, partial hands, partial leg, and feet), of a 40-year-old probable male, exhibits a suite of pathological lesions, including hypercementosis, minor fibrousossifications, pedal phalangeal fracture, and pronouncedenthesopathies on the patella and calcanei in the context of no articular degenerations
A second individual, the Kiyik-Koba 2 infant, was buried in close proximity to the adult in a separate grave, similarly excavated through Level VI. Subsequent to its burial, an additional excavation during the Middle Paleolithic disturbed the remainsof Kiyik-Koba 1 and removed most of the skeleton, leaving a tooth, portions of both hands, the right lower leg, and two virtually complete pedal skeletons.
Trinkaus et al

Nahal Amud Cave
Israel
Neanderthals
70-50 000 BP

Two University of Tokyo expeditions to the site in 1961 and 1964 unearthed Neanderthal skeletal remains dating from about 50,000 to 70,000 years ago. The principal finds consist of a skeleton (designated Amud 1) of an adult male about 25 years old, along with a fragment of another adult jaw and skull fragments of two infants. Amud 1 has a cranial capacity of about 1,740 cubic cm (106 cubic inches), which is significantly larger than the average capacity of modern humans. Nonetheless, the skull has Neanderthal features, with browridges and a receding forehead. Though the bones are incomplete, the height of Amud 1 has been estimated at 172–177 cm (68–70 inches).

In 1991 a joint Israeli and American expedition began new excavations. The following year workers uncovered the partial skeleton of an 8 to 10-month-old Neanderthal baby (Amud 7), upon whose pelvis had been placed the maxilla of a red deer, apparently as a burial rite. Further evidence of Neanderthal habitation and Mousterian toolmaking were revealed, including flaked blades and points as well as deer, cattle, horse, pig, and fox remains. Other hominin remains have been uncovered nearby in the Emireh, Shovakh, and Zuttiyeh caves.
Britannica

Skhul and Qafzeh Sites
Israel
Archaic H. sapiens not Neanderthals!
120-80 000 BP

These two sites together with Kebara, Amud, Ksar Akil (which are the main Levantine Neanderthal sites) were the main support for the Levantine Origin of Neanderthals theory. This theory has in the past 3 years been put to rest by new datings and the suggestion that H.sapiens exited Africa twice 125 000 BP and 80 000 BP.

The hominid remains found at these two sites exhibit a mix of archaic and modern traits. They have now been dated at about 80,000-120,000 years old using electron spin resonance and thermoluminescence dating techniques. Their brain cases are similar to modern humans, but they possess brow ridges and a projecting facial profiles similar to the Neanderthals. They were initially regarded as transitional fossils between Neanderthals and modern humans [Origin of Neanderthals]. They are now regarded as a separate lineage from the Neanderthals, and may represent one of the first exodus of modern humans from Africa around 125,000 years ago.

Neanderthal remains have been found nearby at Kebara Cave that date to 61,000-48,000 years ago, and it has been suggested that the Skhul/Qafzeh H. Sapiens hominids had died out by 80,000 BP because of a climate deterioration. This would suggest that the two types of hominids never made contact in the region. Recent DNA analysis (2010) had revealed that "non-Africans" contain 1-4% Neanderthal genetic material and it had been suggested that hybridization took place in the Middle East.

However, the Skhul/Qafzeh hominids showed "Neanderthal features" before the arrival of Neanderthals in the region, suggesting that the robust features of the Skhul/Qafzeh hominids represent archaic H.sapiens features. Furthermore it has been suggested that the Skhul/Qafzeh H.sapiens hominids are an extinct lineage, and that modern humans exited Africa a second time around 70,000 years ago crossing the Arabian Peninsula into theMiddle East, the Indian Subcontinent and beyond. .
Wikipedia

Kebara Cave
Israel
Neanderthals
60- 48 000 BP

The oldest occupations at Kebara Cave are thought to be associated with the Middle Paleolithic Aurignacian and Mousterian traditions, and range between 60 000 and 48 000 years ago. These oldest levels yielded thousands of animal bones - primarily mountain gazelle and Persian fallow deer - many of the bones with cutmarks, as well as burned bones, hearths, ash lenses and lithic artefacts leading researchers to believe Kebara Cave was a long-term occupied base camp for its Neanderthal residents. Also identified in the MP layers of Kebara cave was a nearly complete skeleton of a Neanderthal, known as KMH 2 or Kebara 2.

Neanderthal hyoid bone from Kebara (64 000 - 60 000 BP)

The crucial bone of the Kebara II skeleton is this hyoid bone, which was missing in earlier Neanderthal fossil skulls. It enables man to articulate speech. It debunks the myth (eg Jean Auel) that they could not speak.
The positions of the mandible, the hyoid bone, and the right upper third molar, which fell from its socket next to the right lower third molar, exclude the hypothesis that the skull was removed by an animal. Furthermore, no cranial fragments were found. These observations suggest that the skull was removed by humans following the complete decay of the atlanto-occipital ligaments.

This is, in our view, the first clear-cut case recorded in a Mousterian context for later human intervention in a primary burial. The absence of the skull precludes any further interpretations in terms of mortuary practices.
The estimation of the stature of KMH 2 at ~1.74 m, for example, is consistent with observations previously made on Near Eastern Middle Palaeolithic hominids had a mean stature taller than that of classical European Neanderthals.
Quote, text and photo from Don's Maps
More see Wikipedia Kebara
Also Britannica, Neanderthal

Ksar Akil
Lebanon
Neanderthals and H. sapiens after 52 000 BP
60-45 000 BP

Excavations showed occupational deposits reaching down to a depth of 23.6 metres (77 ft) with one of the longest sequences of Paleolithic flint industries found in the Middle East. The first level of 8 metres (26 ft) contained Upper Levalloiso-Mousterian (Neanderthal) remains with long and triangular Lithic flakes.
A fragment of a Neanderthal maxilla was discovered in material from level XXVI or XXV, at around 15 metres. Artifacts recovered from these lebvels include shells with holes and chipped edge modifications that may have been used as pendants or beads. These indicate that the inhabitants were among the first in Western Eurasia to use personal ornaments.

The cave was reoccupied by H. sapiens around 52-48 000 BP after their return from the Idian Subcontinent (73 000 BP).

This second move of H.sapiens out of Africa is demonstrated by the Upper Paleolithic culture, (Ksar Akil XXV level, 52-50,000 BC) with modern human remains. Stephen Oppenheimer suggests that this reflects a movement of modern human into North Africa (Haua Fteah Cave, Algeria)).

It would appear this sets the date by which Homo sapiens cultures begin replacing Neanderthals and by c. 40,000 BC Palestine was occupied by the Levanto-Aurignacian Ahmarian H.sapiens culture, lasting from 39-24,000 BC. This culture was quite successful in spreading as the Antelian culture (late Aurignacian), as far as Southern Anatolia.
Last 2 paragraphs condensed from Wikipedia

Mezmaiskaya
Northern Caucasus
Neanderthals
40-30 000 BP

Preliminary excavations recovered Mousterian (Neanderthal) artefacts, dated to about 35,000 B.P. and older, in the middle of the last glacial period. However, a rib fragment from the partial skeleton of a Neanderthal infant found in the cave was radiocarbon-dated to 29,195 ± 965 B.P., and therefore belongs to the last living Neanderthals. The value obtained from the bone itself rather than from associated material gives the most reliable date for this individual. Ancient DNA was recovered for a mtDNA sequence showing 3.48% divergence from that of the Feldhofer Neanderthal, some 2,500 km to the west in Germany. Phylogenetic analysis places the two in a clade distinct from modern humans, suggesting that their mtDNA has not contributed to the modern human mtDNA pool.
Wikipedia

Western European Neanderthals

In Western Europe (Fance, Spain, and Portuga) Neanderthals lived at least from 70 000 -20 000 BP, and between 45 000 and 20 000 in very close, though not always peaceful contact with “Modern Man” (French: Cro Magnon). Genetic evidence so far obtained shows that they did not interbreed in appreciable numbers. The great cave paintings were all painted by Cro Magnon artists.

Roc de Marsal
Dordogne, France
H.neanderthalensis
70 000 BP

The three year old Neanderthal child of Roc de Marsal, one of the oldest burials of the Perigord
Reconstuction (Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies), by Elizabeth Daynès

This three year old child discovered in 1961 at Roc de Marsal (a rockshelter with several adult, classical Neanderthal burials) enjoys an exceptional state of preservation. The body seems to have been deposited in a natural depression in the ground, and has been apparently forced into the form of an arc of a circle, lying on its stomach, with a hand to its head and legs bent at 90°, and then immediately covered with soil. Recent excavations suggest a date of around 70 000 BP, which makes Roc de Marsal one of the oldest burials of the Perigord.
Photo and text Don's Maps

La Ferrassie Rock Shelter
Perigord, France
H. neanderthalensis
70 - 50 000 BP

The site of La Ferrassie is one of two deposits in the world to have broadly contemporary multiple burials. A Neanderthal cemetery. The subjects belong to different age groups, and thus give a good picture of the population.

Burial sites in the La Ferrassie rock shelter Plan P. Pettitt

The site yielded skeletons from eight Neanderthal individuals, including 2 adults, 2 children, 2 infants, and 2 fetuses! All were ceremonially buried at the shelter. They were discovered on 17th September 1909 by R. Capitan and D. Peyrony.

Neanderthal skull La Ferrassie 1

This provides a measure of the size Neanderthal groups had approached at the time. These highly structured groups were able to care for older and frailer individuals who did not contribute directly to the material life of the group. These individual burials, were intended to protect the body after death. This reflects true humanity. Text: Don's Maps

Neanderthal handprints at Ferrassie 60 000 BP

Peyzac-le-Moustier
Dordogne
H. neanderthalensis
40 300 BP

Fossil remains of adult Neanderthals are well documented, but juvenile specimens are rare and information about them is scant. Here we identify a beautifully preserved four-months-old skeleton that has been lost to science for almost 90 years as the Neanderthal neonate known as ‘Le Moustier 2’, which was originally found at Le Moustier. The burial pit originated in archaeological level J, a Mousterian cultural layer that has been dated to 40 300±600 years BP by thermoluminescence

The nearly complete skeleton of the Moustier 2 neonate baby, 40 300 BP

Estimates of he stature based on the length of the long bones confirmed that the age at death was no more than four months. Although Le Moustier 2 is one of the most complete Neanderthal individuals to have been discovered, both scapulae and the pubis are missing. However, the right femur and right humerus, which were previously also missing, have now been found,
Don's Maps

Neanderthal
Germany, name site of the species
40 000 BP

Discovered by Johann Carl Fuhlrott (1856), Feldhofer 1 or Neanderthal 1 is the common name for the initial 40,000-year-old Neanderthal specimen found in Kleine Feldhofer Grotte in August 1856. It represents the beginning of paleoanthropology as a scientific discipline.
The discovery was made in Feldhofer grotto in a limestone quarry located in Neanderthal, Germany. Neanderthal 1 consisted of a skull cap, two femora, the three right arm bones, two of the left arm bones, ilium, and fragments of a scapula and ribs. The fossils were given by quarry workers to a local teacher and amateur naturalist, Johann Karl Fuhlrott. The description of the remains was determined by anatomist Hermann Schaffhausen. The find was announced jointly in 1857.
As well as the unique historical importance of this specimen, it has continued to play a key role since its discovery
Wikipedia

Are the Burial Customs of H. sapiens sapiens inherited from the Neanderthals?

Early Burials of “Modern Man”

The excavated Neanderthal sites all exhibit complex burial rituals, which were eventually adopted by H. sapiens. These burial customs are so close to our own, modern sentiments that they are still able to evoke our emotions: From the dark recess of our common subconsciousness surface thoughts and attitudes about life and death which despite all advances may originate with these ancestors. As Confucius said in 500 BC, “about death I know nothing. That domain I leave to the priests.”
Neanderthal Burials

Krems-Wachtberg
near Krems/Danube, Austria
H. sapiens
27 000 BP

One of the most touching remains of H. sapiens are child burials. The Neanderthals practiced an elaborate child burial ritual long before the arrival of H. sapiens in Europe, and H. sapiens seems have adopted this practice from them.

The "Ice-Age Twins" smothered in red ocher, photo Don's Maps

In Krems-Wachtberg in 2005 archeologists unearthed the graves of three Stone Age infants that may ultimately bear on the question of whether humans interbred with Neanderthals. The rare find, from a 27 000 year old site in Austria, includes two bodies that might be twins sheltered under a mammoth's shoulder blade. Numerous traces of burial practice survived. All of the infant remains were covered in red ocher pigment, and more than 30 ivory beads lay near the pelvis of one of the twins.
These rituals involved in child burials confirm the close relation to the contemporaneous south Moravian sites, like Dolní Věstonice, Pavlov and Předmostí, as evidenced by the use of red ochre, grave goods like ivory beads and the practice of covering the grave with a mammoth shoulder blade
Excavation Report Händel et al (pdf in English

Dolni Vestonice, Moravia
Triple Burial
H. sapiens
25 000 BP

An even more touching burial was found in a mammoth-hunter camp in Moravia, right at the edge of the Würm ice cap: Three people ralated by a common fate were cermoniously interred together. Because of the extremely cold location, the improvised habitat, and other finds at Dolni Vestovince I lean to attribute the site to late Neanderthals – alas the professionals don't agree.

The Triple Burial of Dolni Vestonice

An artist's rendition

The following is taken from James Shreeve's book “The Neandertal Enigma: solving the mystery of modern human origins” (William Morrow and Company, New York, 1995.)

In the spring of 1986, near a village called Dolni Vestonice in the Czech province of Moravia, the bodies of three people were discovered in a common grave.
Two of the skeletons were heavily built males. By its slender proportions, the third was judged to be female, aged seventeen to twenty. A marked left curvature of the spine, along with several other skeletal abnormalities, suggested that she had been painfully crippled. The two males had died healthy, in the prime of their lives. The remains of a thick wooden pole thrust through the hip of one of them hinted that his death might not have been entirely natural.
The bodies had been buried with curious attention. According to the expert Bohuslav Klima, of the Czech Institute of Archaeology in Brno both young men had been laid to rest with their heads encircled with necklaces of pierced canine teeth and ivory; the one with the pole thrust up to his coccyx may also have been wearing some kind of painted mask. All three skulls were covered in red ocher.
The most peculiar feature of the grave, however, was the arrangement of the deceased. Whoever committed the bodies to the ground extended them side by side, the woman between her two companions. The man on her left lay on his stomach, facing away from her but with his left arm linked with hers. The other male lay on his back, his head turned toward her. Both of his arms were reaching out, so that his hands rested on her pubis. The ground surrounding this intimate connection was splashed with red ocher.
The skeletons lean into each other, like nestled question marks. In his written report, Klima speculated that the arrangement of the grave might reflect "a real life drama which precipitated the burials." His drama revolved around a young woman who had died in childbirth. The two male skeletons where those of her husband and a medicine man-the man wearing the mask. Held responsible for her death, the men had been compelled to follow her into the afterlife.
Photos and text from Don's Maps

Did “Modern Man” interbreed with (and persecute) Neanderthals?

The genetic answer to the interbreeding question has been discussed at the beginning of this chapter. The second part of the question is not easily addressed. Explanations of the demise of the Neanderthals range from their being “marginalized” by the culturally superior AHM (Anatomicaly Modern Humans), to cannibalism and explicit persecution of Neanderthals by “Modern Man”. There are indications that the latter actually happened. They are weak and only a few, which I have collecteded in the following examples.

In the end cultural pressures on the dwidling Neanderthal groups surely played a major role. They moved to the far borders of H. sapiens' territory in Portugal and southern Spain, where, probably helped by epidemics and alcohol, the last Neandertal communities died in the 20th millenium BP much like the American Indians and other ethnic minorites disappeared in modern times.

Pech-Merle
Lot, France
Decidedly an H.sapiens site
25-16 000 BP
See my discussion of the paintings of Pech-Merle

Pech Merle, a hillside opening in the Lot département of the Midi-Pyrénées region in France, about 35 minutes drive east of Cahors, is one site of prehistoric cave paintings in France remaining open to the general public. Going back inside for more than a mile are caverns with walls painted in dramatic murals dating back to 25,000 BP (Gravettian culture). Some of the paintings and engravings could be later (Magdalenian, 16, 000 BP).

A man killed by 8 spears next to a “Placard Sign”, 75 cm high, Solutrean 20 000 BP? Photo Michel Lorblanchet

The most enigmatic findings in several caves in the area are a signs dubbed: “aviforms” (in the shape of birds wings - “Vultures or Eagles!”). It has been suggested that these signs, which are found in the Charente (Le Placard) and in the Departement Lot (Pech Merle, Cougnac), stand for a group with a common goal, who convened in these caves separated more than 150 km from each other.
A depiction of a speared man is equally rare (there exist 2 other such drawings). Possibly the associated Placard Sign indicates war fare between two such tribes or groups: “kill the bastard!”

This raises the interesting question: were the killed man a Neanderthalian and the aviform-group H.sapiens Racists? There exists an earlier example of a potential killing of a Neanderthal man by H. sapiens sapiens from Shanidar.
For more on Pech-Merle see Wikipedia Pech Merle
and Don's Maps

Grotte de Cougnac
north of Gourdon, Lot, France
Cro Magnon site
25 000+14 000 BP
See my page on the Cave Paintings of Cougnac

Another example of a charcoal graffiti of a man killed by spears, Cougnac megaloceros, 14 000 BP

Abrigo do Lagar Velho
East of Mariha Grande, Portugal
24 500 BP

Burial of a child with mixed H.sapiens/neanderthal skeletal characteristics

In archaeological terms, the site is known to integrate a stratigraphic sequence representative of much of the Upper Paleolithic human occupations of the region (between about 30,000 and 20,000 years), gathering at various levels respective traces and carved lithic remnants, associated with coeval faunal elements.
In 1998, the discovery of an early Upper Paleolithic human burial site in the valley has provided evidence of early modern humans in southern Iberia. The remains, the largely complete skeleton of an approximately 4-year-old child, was buried with a pierced shell and red ochre (dated to circa 24,500 years B.P.).
The cranium, mandible, dentition, and postcrania appear to present a mosaic of European early modern human and Neanderthal features, although this interpretation is disputed. If the child was indeed a hybrid of anatomically modern humans and homo neanderthalensis, there could be significant implications regarding the Neanderthal interaction with Cro-Magnons and the taxonomical classification of these (possibly sub-) species.
In addition to providing evidence of a 25,000 year old ritual burial (decorated with burnt pine branches, red ochre, pierced bear teeth and shell adornments) of a 4 year old Paleolithic child, an analysis has revealed that the child exhibits distinctive characteristics of both contemporaneous European early modern humans and Neandertals. It therefore provides evidence of admixture between Neandertals and early modern humans in southwestern Europe. As a result, it has become a focus of ongoing research by Prof. Trinkaus and others concerning the evolutionary dynamics of the emergence of modern humans across the Old World. - No DNA analysis has as yet been pubished. Was the child a girl?....
Wikipedia
Cidalia Duarte et al, Excavation Report, June 1999

Map of the Last Neanderthals ca. 30 000 BP

Map from an article by João Zilhão: The Lagar Velho Child and the Fate of the Neanderthals

Around 25 000 BP the Neanderthals disappeared as a distinct population from the archeological record except for a few straggling settlements in Portugal, Southern Spain, the Balkans, and in Southern England. Whether they were killed by “Modern Man”, succumbed to viral diseases, alcohol, or simply died out because they couldn't adapt to the modern life style cannot be assertained. Their sentimental Gemüt (soul), and especially their burial rituals and understanding of life and death survived subliminally in many parts of Europe to the present.

Iberian Aurignacian Sites 40 000-18 000 BP
The last refuges of the Neanderthals.

Selected sites with Mousterian, Châtelperronian and/or Aurignacian industries, Neandertal or Cro-Magnon remains in Iberia.

Key to site numbers: 1. Ekain 2. Labeko Koba 3. Lezetxiki 4. Axlor 5. Kurtzia 6. Cueva Morin 7. Camargo 8. E1 Pendo 9. E1 Castillo 10. La Flecha 11. Millan 12. Los Casares 13. Banyoles 14. L’Arbreda 15. Reclau Viver 16. Els Ermitons 17. Romani 18. Roca dels Bous 19. Cova Negra 20. Les Mallaetes* 21. Beneito 22. Cariguela 23. Zafarraya 24. Gorham's Cave* 25. Devil's Tower 26. Columbeira 27. Salemas 28. Figueira Brava 29. Foradada* 30. Bajondillo* 31. Conçeicão 32. Almonda 33. Caldeirão 34. Foz da Enxarrique 35. A Valiña 36. E1 Conde 37. La Viña 38. Esquilleu 39. La Ermita 40. Jarama IV 41. Las Fuentes de San Cristobal*: “Aurignacian” here is either problematic or chronologically late.

Source file of map: http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1040618204002356-gr1.gif

Les Rois sur Boëme
near Mouthiers-sur-Boëme, Charente, France
Cro Magnon site
30 000-28 000 BP

A second hybrid child - or a ritual killing of a Neanderthal child?

The spread of Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) into Europe, is supported by few diagnostic human remains, including those from the Aurignacian site of Les Rois in south-western France. Here we reassess the taxonomic attribution of the human remains, their cultural affiliation, and provide five new radiocarbon dates for the site.

Patterns of tooth growth along with the morphological and morphometric analysis of the human remains at Les Rois indicate that a juvenile mandible showing cutmarks presents some Neandertal features, whereas another mandible is attributed to Anatomically Modern Humans.
A Reappraisal of the archaeological sequence demonstrates that human remains derive from two layers dated to 28–30 kyr BP attributed to the Aurignacian, the only cultural tradition detected at the site

Three possible explanations may account for this unexpected evidence.
The first one is that the Aurignacian was exclusively produced by AMH and that the child mandible from unit A2 represents evidence for “defleshing” or, more likely, a symbolic killing (not cannibalism!) of a Neandertal child by Aurignacian AMH.
The second possible explanation is that Aurignacian technologies were produced at Les Rois by human groups bearing both AMH and Neandertal features. Human remains from Les Rois would be in this case the first evidence of a biological contact between the two human groups.
The third possibility is that all human remains from Les Rois represent an AMH population with conserved plesiomorphic characters suggesting a larger variation in modern humans from the Upper Palaeolithic.
From Fernando V. Ramirez Rozzi et al, "Cutmarked human remains bearing Neandertal features and modern human remains associated with the Aurignacian at Les Rois."
Nouvelles fouilles sur Les Rois

Did the Neanderthals paint Caves?

Nerja Caves
Malaga, Spain
22 000 BP and possibly >37 000 BP?

No cave paintings can be associated with Neanderthals for sure with the exception of the hand stencils in La Ferrassie (60 000 BP).
Recently drawings in Nerja cave have been attributed - though unproven and not very convincingly argued - by Spanish paleoanthropologists to Neanderthals.

Skeletal remains found in the lower, open caverns, Nerja I, indicate that they were inhabited from about 25,000 BC up until the Bronze Age. Cave paintings from the Paleolithic and post-Paleolithic eras have been discovered on the walls of the upper cave, Nerja II. For about 4,000 years around 25,000 BC the caves were used seasonally by a small group of humans, and were occupied by cave hyenas during the periods that the humans were absent. By 21,000 BC the human population had taken up year-round residence in the cave and had increased in number. A culture based on hunting in the local area had evolved, illustrated by first cave paintings found in the cave which date to around 21 000 BC.

The latest sensation (2012): drawings of seals possibly by Neanderthals, estimated date >37 000 BP

These two seals recently dicovered, are advertized to be the first drawings attributable to Neanderthals. Dating of the Nerja seal paintings' pigments will not take place until after 2013. Further excavations in the extensive upper cave system, closed to the public, is ongoing.
New Scientist 2012
Wikipedia