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A Paleolithic Crossroads

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Enjoy these additional images from Grotte Mandrin, a rock shelter in southern France's Rhône Valley, where, researchers have found, Homo sapiens briefly settled around 54,000 years ago.

  • Archaeologists uncovered this inch-long stone point, and hundreds of others like it, in Grotte Mandrin. Some 54,000 years ago, the points likely tipped arrows shot from bows by some of the earliest Homo sapiens in Europe. (Laure Metz)
  • Grotte Mandrin was home to different groups of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens across an 80,000-year span. During 30 years of excavations, archaeologists have uncovered nearly 60,000 stone artifacts and 70,000 animal bones from the site. (Ludovic Slimak)
  • Teeth and other fossil remains unearthed at Grotte Mandrin confirm that numerous groups of Neanderthals visited the rock shelter between 80,000 and 42,000 years ago. (Ludovic Slimak)
  • Neanderthals left behind hefty hand tools made in a style typical of Middle Paleolithic cultures in Grotte Mandrin. (Ludovic Slimak)

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