Nobody Found Him, Until Now

In Neanderthalistan you become the cave.

This poor creature fell down a ground fault and died thousands of years ago. His remains were assimilated into the walls of the cave. He (she?) now resembles some kind of weird, eerie but beautiful sculpture.

First discovered in 1993, the skeleton - nicknamed 'Altamura Man' - has provoked debate among anthropologists partly due to the difficulties in studying the skeleton as it had become part of the cave walls.

Examination of those bones that were exposed suggested they belonged to an adult male.

However, few could agree on whether the skeleton belonged to a Neanderthal or a modern human, or how long it had been down there.

But after taking a tiny part of the skeleton's shoulder bone, researchers at the Sapienza University of Rome, University of Firenze and Newcastle University have been able to answer the questions.

They found mitochondrial DNA they extracted from the shoulder bone matched that of other Neanderthal skeletons.

[...]The Altamura Neanderthal is thought to have come to rest in its unusual tomb after an adult male fell down a sinkhole into a limestone karst system.

Wedged in the narrow rocks, he were unable to move and probably starved to death. However, it also means no predators were able to reach his body.

Over time, his bones fell where had died, with some still lodged in the cave gap and were eventually absorbed into the walls of the cave itself.

Cave explorers then stumbled across the bones in 1993.

I wonder if his friends and family looked for him.

Story here.