Shanidar Cave
Shanidar Valley (Mergasur)
The famous archaeological cave on Bradost Mountain in the Zagros — where the remains of ten Neanderthals and the much-debated "flower burial" were found.
About
Shanidar Cave lies on the slopes of Bradost Mountain in the Zagros range, in Erbil Governorate. Ralph Solecki's excavations of 1951–1961 uncovered the remains of ten Neanderthals dating from roughly 35,000 to 65,000 years ago. Its most famous find is the "flower burial": clumps of flower pollen beside one skeleton, first read as evidence of a ritual burial with flowers, though most scholars now attribute the pollen to burrowing rodents and bees. Renewed Cambridge-led excavations have continued since 2015.