Sidrón Cave

The Sidrón Cave is a non-carboniferous limestone karst cave system located in the Piloña municipality of Asturias where Paleolithic rock art and the fossils of more than a dozen Neanderthals were found [1]. The total length of this huge complex is approximately 3,700 m, which contains a central hall of 200 m length and the Neanderthal fossil site, called the Ossuary Gallery, which is 28 m long and 12 m wide [1]. In 1994, human remains were found accidentally in the cave [1]. They were initially suspected to be from the Spanish Civil War because Republican fighters used to hide there; however, later analysis shows that the remains actually belong to Neanderthals [1]. Researchers recovered more than 2500 hominin fossil elements from the site [1]. The minimum number of individuals from Sidrón Cave is 13 [1]. The age of these remains of three men, three adolescent boys, four women, and three infants has been estimated to about 49,000 years [1]. The first sequencing of the Neanderthal Y chromosome was successfully completed from a specimen from Sidrón Cave [1].