The discovery of Shanidar Z in apparently undisturbed sediment adjacent to but not within the original excavation showed that decades of subsequent occupation of the site had not destroyed the remaining archaeological record.

They introduced a nearly complete adult Neanderthal skull to the scientific literature for the first time in decades — a specimen that, even in crushed and fragmentary form, provided morphological data of value to researchers studying Neanderthal anatomy and variation.

And they sustained and enriched a conversation that has been ongoing since 1960: about what Neanderthals did with their dead, about what that behavior implies about their inner lives, and about what it means for the story of human cognition and its emergence.

The Future of Shanidar Research