Abstract

Shanidar Cave is a key site for the study of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic in Southwest Asia, with deposits encompassing the extinction of Neanderthals and the expansion of Modern Humans (from ~50-30ka BP in Eurasia). Various theories have been put forward to explain the replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans, and in recent years there has been a particular focus on whether Neanderthals were less resilient to abrupt climate change than Modern Humans. This talk presents the results of a study of the micromammal assemblage from Shanidar Cave (Iraqi Kurdistan) which was used to produce a palaeoenvironmental record for a stratigraphic sequence dated from c.85,000 to 30,000 years ago, encompassing periods of Neanderthal and Modern Human occupation of the cave. A variety of methods were applied to the material, which altogether indicate a broadly stable environment with smaller scale environmental fluctuations. The findings of this project emphasises the importance of investigating local environmental signals in addition to global signals.