Three Neanderthal individuals were recovered from the cave. The first, Mezmaiskaya 1, was recovered in 1993 and is an almost complete skeleton in a well preserved state due to calcitecementation that covers and holds the arrangement in place. It was assessed to be an infant about two weeks old, making it the youngest Neanderthal ever recovered. Although no burial pit was found, circumstances suggest that the body was buried intentionally, explaining the good state of preservation and the lack of scavenger marks. Mesmaikaya 1 was recovered from Layer 3, the oldest Late Middle Paleolithic layer at the site. Mezmaiskaya 1 is indirectly dated to around 70–60,000 years old.[1]
Additionally, 24 skull fragments of a 1- to 2-year-old Neanderthal child - Mezmaiskaya 2 - were found in 1994.[1] A recovered tooth was assigned to Mezmaiskaya 3.[8]Mezmaiskaya 2 was recovered from Layer 2, the youngest Late Middle Paleolithic layer, and directly dated to around 44,600-42,960 cal BP. DNA analysis reveals that Mesmaiskaya 2 was male.[1]
Archaeogenetics
Ancient DNA was recovered for a mtDNA sequence showing 3.48% divergence from that of the Neanderthal 1, found some 2,500 km (1,600 mi) to the west in Germany. Phylogenetic analysis places these two specimen in a clade distinct from modern humans, suggesting that their mtDNA types have not contributed to the modern human mtDNA pool.[9]
Mezmaiskaya 2 is genetically closer to other late European Neanderthals, including Neanderthals from Vindija Cave, Spy Cave and Goyet Caves, than the older Mesmaiskaya 1, which indicates that a population replacement of Neanderthals likely occurred in the Caucasus. This gap in time is consistent with Marine isotope stage 3.[1]
Modern humans and Ust'-Ishim man share more alleles with all other Neanderthals, including Mezmaiskaya 1, than with the Altai Neanderthal from Denisova Cave, which shows that the introgression event from Neanderthals into humans likely took place after the split of the lineage of the Altai Neanderthal from that of other Neanderthals, but before the split of the lineage of Mezmaiskaya 1 and that of other Neanderthals.[1]
Fauna
Faunal remains show a very low degree of weathering, with many bones having traces of stone tool cuts and carnivore modification. The most common large mammals are steppe bison (Bison priscus), Caucasian goat (Capra caucasica), and Asiatic mouflon (Ovis orientalis). Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) remains were encountered for the first time in the Caucasus.
Although most of the smaller vertebrate remains appear to have been accumulated by nonhuman processes (for example, owlpredation), the majority of the ungulate remains probably represent animals hunted by the occupants of the Mousterian culture.[10][11]
Analysis of the animal bones found in the Mezmaiskaya Cave revealed that during the middle and late Paleolithic four kinds of buffalo lived in the area.[12]
Description
The cave entrance is a hole in the cliff several meters high, behind which the course is narrowed to a few meters, but almost all along remains quite high. Within a few tens of meters of the entrance to the cave, the floor is transformed from rocky to clay.
Geology
Evidence recovered from the cave suggests that the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption around 40,000 years ago may have been a setback for the Neanderthal, with an as yet only postulated eruption contributing to their demise about 29,000 years ago.[13][14]
^
L. V. Golovanova, John F. Hoffecker, V. M. Kharitonov and G. P. Romanova, Mezmaiskaya Cave: A Neanderthal Occupation in the Northern Caucasus Current Anthropology Vol. 40, No. 1 (February 1999), pp. 77-86.
^John Hawks and Milford H. Wolpoff, Brief Communication: Paleoanthropology and thePopulation Genetics of Ancient Genes AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 114:269–272 (2001) page 269-272.
^L. V. Golovanova, John F. Hoffecker, V. M. Kharitonov, and G. P. Romanova, Mezmaiskaya Cave: A Neanderthal Occupation in the Northern Caucasus, Current Anthropology Volume 40, Number 1 | February 1999 73.
^Timothy D. Weaver, Hélène Coqueugniot, Liubov V. Golovanova, Vladimir B. Doronichev, Bruno Maureille, and Jean-Jacques Hublin "Neonatal postcrania from Mezmaiskaya, Russia, and Le Moustier, France, and the development of Neandertal body form" PNAS 2016, 113 (23) 6472-6477; published ahead of print May 23, 2016, doi:10.1073/pnas.1523677113
^Igor V. Ovchinnikov; Anders Götherström; Galina P. Romanova; Vitaliy M. Kharitonov; Kerstin Lidén; William Goodwin (30 March 2000). "Molecular analysis of Neanderthal DNA from the northern Caucasus". Nature. 404 (6777): 490–493. Bibcode:2000Natur.404..490O. doi:10.1038/35006625. PMID10761915. S2CID3101375.
^Baryshnikova, Gennady; John F. Hoffeckerb; Robin L. Burgess (May 1996). "Palaeontology and Zooarchaeology of Mezmaiskaya Cave (Northwestern Caucasus, Russia)". Journal of Archaeological Science. 23 (3): 313–335. doi:10.1006/jasc.1996.0030. Over 6000 large mammal and numerous small vertebrate remains have been recovered from preliminary excavations at Mezmaiskaya Cave
^Liubov Vitaliena Golovanova; Vladimir Borisovich Doronichev; Naomi Elancia Cleghorn; Marianna Alekseevna Koulkova; Tatiana Valentinovna Sapelko; M. Steven Shackley (2010). "Volcanoes Wiped out Neanderthals, New Study Suggests"(news release). Current Anthropology. University of Chicago Press Journals. 51 (5): 655–691. doi:10.1086/656185. S2CID144299365. Significance of Ecological Factors in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition
