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GIBRALTAR—The examination of more than 1,700 pigeon bones from Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar suggests that Neanderthals butchered and even possibly cooked the birds, which nest in cliff ledges and cave entrances, as a regular part of their diet. “Neanderthals exploited Rock Doves for food for a period of over 40 thousand years, the earliest evidence dating to at least 67 thousand years ago,” according to a paper by Ruth Blasco of The Gibraltar Museum and colleagues, published in Scientific Reports and reported in Phys.org. It had been thought that modern humans were the first to hunt and eat birds on a regular basis. Scorch marks on the bones may have been made by cooking, or perhaps by waste disposal or accidental burning.
