Specimens

Teshik Tash 1

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Site:
Teshik Tash
Lat/Long:
37.96, 67.15
Classifications:
Homo, Homo neanderthalensis
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Teshik-Tash 1 is a Neanderthal skeleton discovered in 1938 in Teshik-Tash Cave, in the Bajsuntau mountain range, Uzbek SSR, Central Asia.

The remains were discovered in 1938 by A. P. Okladnikov. They were found in a shallow pit, reported to be associated with five pairs of Siberian ibex horn cores. Through dental analysis the skull was said to have been an 8 to 11-year-old child. The horn cores were found around the perimeter of the grave surrounding the cranial remains. This has led a number of researchers to believe the child was ritually buried.

The site was excavated in five cultural layers of sediment with Mousterian artifacts.

Lack of adequate published material on the excavation and the numerous Ibex bones (761) found led to this interpretation being questioned. Paul Mellars, questioning the ritual interpretation suggested that the bones may not have been deliberately placed. Others (e.g., Gargett) believe it is no burial at all.