Gorham's Cave Complex © VisitGibraltar.gi |
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Gorhams Cave Gibraltar
Neanderthal man lived in caves on the Rock of Gibraltar and at least about ten other sites in southern Iberia. They may have been among the last of their species according to a number of hypotheses which claim that Iberian Peninsula acted as a "refuge" for the Neanderthal populations retreating the advance of the ice age. They existed until around 24,000 years ago.
In 1848 an ancient skull, now housed in the British Museum in London, was discovered in Forbes' Quarry which is at the foot of the Rock's steep North face. It was a woman's skull. Eight years later an identical skull was discovered in the Neander Valley near Dusseldorf in Germany. This skull came to be known to us as that of Neanderthal Man but it could be strongly argued that Neanderthal Man should in fact be Gibraltar Woman.
Subsequent Gibraltar Neanderthal discoveries have also been made including the skull of a four-year-old child discovered nearby in 1926. In July 2012, archaeologists discovered an engraving in Gorham's Cave, buried under 39,000-year-old sediments, which has been called "the oldest known example of abstract art". The Gorham's Cave complex was added to the UNESCO World heritage list in 2016. Access to the caves is strictly controlled, and visitors must be accompanied by a guide approved by the Director of the Gibraltar Museum.
