Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

We took the house off the abyss.

  • In a cave of Amoroto are the marks of the claws of a cavernary bear. The main hypothesis about why the species has been extinct so far has been climate, but recent studies conclude that mitochondrial DNA began to fall into the caves about 50,000 years ago, before climate change. That's why they've linked the extinction of these bears to the spread of our species.
(Argazkia: ADES)

Amoroto, over 24,000 years ago. A cave bear left marks of his claw in a cave. Recently, the speleological association Ades has discovered this cave, catalogued with the code MG-12. In addition to the mark of the bear, in the cave they have also found a human skull, although they have not yet been evaluated and dated by the agents. But we know that the fingerprints of the vertex are over 24000-26,000 years, since at that time the species Ursus spelaeus was extinct.

Until the last decade, the main hypothesis about the cause of the extinction of caves has been the climate, which means that they did not withstand the last glacier and disappeared. However, as several experts have warned, the simas survived the previous glaciations. Another hypothesis is that the species was destroyed by a low diet. However, the study of some bones found in Romania in 2008 showed that the diet of caves was more varied than was thought.

Two years later, in 2010, chaired by the Max Planck Institute, a group of international scientists conducted a study that blamed man for abandoning climate or food. Recently, the mitochondrial DNA of 17 remains found in Siberia, Ukraine and Galicia has been analyzed and it has been concluded that the fall of the caves began some 50,000 years ago, before climate change. That's why they've linked the extinction of these bears to the spread of our species.

Parietal bears are rarely depicted in hunting scenes among the buttresses of the time – brown bears are much more frequent – and the trace of bears found in the caves along with human remains are related to rituals. All this indicates that the simas were of great ritual importance for humans of the time, but that they were not hunted. Humans did not directly kill bears. But they left them with no space to hibernate. As Homo sapiens expanded, more and more caves were occupied as a place of residence. Brown bears have the ability to hibernate out of the caves, protected by vegetation, but simas don't. Some were unable to enter the caves they used before, and others were unable to spend the winter outside; others found inadequate caves, too deep and failed to survive in the spring.

Pending the investigation of the remains found in Amoroto, remains of caves and humans have been found in other caves in recent years, and this hypothesis is becoming stronger.


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