News Archaeology

Stone circles show Neandertals’ social, technical skills

176,500-year-old stalagmite structures found in French cave

French cave

ANCIENT RING  A new study finds that Neandertals built structures out of stalagmites. Here, a researcher takes measurements of a circular arrangement of stalagmites created in a French cave around 176,500 years ago.

Etienne Fabre/SSAC

By Bruce Bower

In at least one part of Stone Age Europe, Neandertals were lords of the rings. Humankind’s close evolutionary cousins built large, circular structures out of stalagmites in a French cave around 176,500 years ago, researchers say.