PARIS - Long thought of as thick-skulled brutes, Neanderthals were building complex underground structures by firelight, possibly for rituals as far back as 176,500 years ago, a study asserted Wednesday.
A member of a research team takes magnetic readings at the "Grotte de Bruniquel" caves, in Bruniquel, Tarn-et-Garonne
The dating of these structures pushed back by tens of thousands of years the first known cave exploration by members of the broader human family. And it ranked the structures among the oldest-known human constructions.