A new study concludes that a Neanderthal burial site with flowers as a final gift to the deceased is more likely the result of animals, like bees collecting pollen.
based on this discovery. Some pollen grains were identified as coming from plants with medical properties. Maybe, so the authors, the flowers were put on the body in a vain attempt to save the life of a sick individual, or they were a last gift for a dying loved one.
At the time Neanderthals were thought to be a primitive and brute species, so the supposed sign of empathy hugely altered the way people thought about our near relatives. Later, the findings were widely questioned, but a period of political unrest in Iraq and later war prevented further research for over 50 years.
Now a study published by a team of British archeologists and biologists seems to put the explanation of Neanderthals using flowers as grave goods to rest, arguing that the pollen accumulation found in the cave is likely the result of animal activity. The study reexamined the pollen preserved in the sediments. Pollen grain size, shape and surface texture differ from one plant species to another. The authors show that the pollen grains from the burial site come from a wide variety of flowers, that would not have been blooming and producing pollen at the same time. This suggests they were not all gathered at a specific point in time, like for a burial, but collected over a long period.
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