By analyzing the sediment immediately surrounding the remains, researchers can assess what happened to the burial context over tens of thousands of years.

These techniques were not available to Solecki in the 1950s.

The difference in what they can tell us about the Shanidar burials is significant.

But it does not eliminate the fundamental interpretive challenges.

Better data narrows the range of plausible interpretations.

It does not always close it.

The Neanderthal Population Network

One of the most important findings from ancient DNA analysis of Neanderthal remains is that Neanderthals were not a single, isolated, genetically uniform population.