Archaeologists carried out a detailed spatial study of finds at a Neanderthal site and published their insights in a recent issue of a leading journal. The investigation centered on the Navalmayo rock shelter, located near Madrid, Spain. Layer F, a stratigraphic unit within the sequence, is dated to roughly 76,000 years ago. The shelter operated as a hunting camp rather than a permanent settlement, serving as a seasonal stopping point where people paused to rest and butcher carcasses before moving on.
The research team, led by Abel Moclan and colleagues, mapped the locations of artifacts and remains to uncover patterns in how the space was used. The analysis revealed that the majority of finds – including stone tools, animal remains, and excrement – clustered near fire pits. These distributions point to a recurring set of activities forming the backbone of local camp life, suggesting a routine sequence of tasks centered around warmth, cooking, and processing game. In addition to these core clusters, researchers identified two other loci within the shelter complex that seemed to have specialized functions. One area appears to have been devoted to the slaughtering of carcasses, while another shows traces of prolonged exposure to water, indicating varied ecological or logistical uses of the site during different periods of occupation.
From these patterns, the team inferred that the Navalmayo site was not inhabited year-round but was used intensively during episodes of movement and hunting. Groups of hunters repeatedly returned to the same location, following established routes and schedules that optimized the processing of game and the management of refuse. This pattern of episodic but heavy use aligns with a broader view of Neanderthal mobility, where flexible campsites served as hubs for gathering, but permanent residential areas remained elsewhere. The spatial organization at Navalmayo underscores how early humans coordinated activities across different zones within a shelter to support a highly functional and efficient hunting strategy. These conclusions are consistent with other regional ichnological and artefact distribution studies and contribute to a more nuanced understanding of Neanderthal camp life as a dynamic system with defined zones of action, rather than a single monolithic living space — a finding reported in references within Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.
In a separate and earlier line of discovery, researchers identified a remarkable artefact described as a matryoshka composed of bones from an Arctic fox and a Paleolithic mammoth excavated in Siberia. This object, illustrating compositional layering and symbolic potential, adds to the growing inventory of tools and representations associated with Paleolithic cultures across vast geographic regions. The Siberian find serves as a valuable comparative reference for interpreting bone usage, ritual behavior, and the logistical networks that connected distant hunter gatherer communities in ancient times. These discoveries collectively illuminate the sophistication of early cultural practices and the variety of ways human groups organized material culture within and beyond their habitats, according to reports from Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.