Vindija CaveThe Vindija cave is located in the Donja Voca municipality in Croatia and is a rich arch

Vindija Cave

The Vindija cave is located in the Donja Voca municipality in Croatia and is a rich archeological site. Several remains of Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens have been found here. The most unique aspect of this is the fact that these Neanderthal remains were the primary source for the first attempt to sequence the full genome of the Neanderthal DNA.

The cave itself consists of 13 levels and dates back to 150,000 years ago. During the first half of the 20th century, the cave was excavated and the remains of several animals appeared. Between 1974 and 1986 a more thorough and extensively research was conducted in this cave which led to the discovery of over 100 pieces and bits belonging to hominins such as us, Homo Sapiens, and Neanderthals in 4 of the 13 levels of the cave and countless of other animal bones.

In total the bodies of four Neanderthal individuals were discovered and excavated in two levels of the cave, level G3, the lowest level containing human remains which dates back to around 45,000-38,000 years ago and G1 a level which dates back to around 34,000-32,000 years ago. Modern humans were found in level F (31,000-28,000 years ago) and level D (less than 18,500 years ago).

Now this leads to an interesting question, did modern humans and Neanderthals live together in this cave? In 2017, researchers from the Oxford radiocarbon accelerator unit researched the remains of the Neanderthals by using a new technique. This technique involves using AMS ultrafiltration on hydroxyproline which has been extracted from the Neanderthal samples. To explain this more easily, the sample is put into an accelerator in which the ions of the sample are accelerated and then passed through a magnet so that a detector can then record the amount of C14 ions.

The AMS dating technique shows that the Neanderthals are older than 44,000 years, this is about 8000 years older than the first arrival of modern humans in the cave so we now know that both species did not intermix.

In the 2010’s several DNA researches were conducted on the Neanderthal remains. In 2010, scientists were succesfull in making a first draft of the Neanderthal genome based on mainly the Neanderthal remains found in the Vindija cave. In 2018 it was discovered that all four of the Neanderthals were genetically closest to each other than to any other Neanderthal found thus far. Modern humans living right now also share more DNA with the Vindija Neanderthals than other Neanderthals such as the Altai found in Siberia.

Here are images of:
Entrance of the Vindija cave,
Neanderthal remains from the cave,
Reconstructino of Neanderthals living in the cave,