page_title: Schmerling Caves
section_title: Lower cave
hierarchical_section_title: Schmerling Caves / Description / Lower cave
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: fr:Grottes Schmerling supérieures et restes de la grotte inférieure, lieu de découverte des premiers restes fr:néandertaliens, découvert en 1830 par fr:Philippe-Charles Schmerling, fr:Awirs, fr:Engis / fr:Flémalle, fr:Province de Liège, fr:Belgique English: The Upper Schmerling Caves and the remains of the Lower Schmerling Cave, place of the first discovered neandertalian remains by Philippe-Charles Schmerling in 1830 - Awirs, Flémalle / Engis, Liège, Belgium
context_page_description: The Schmerling Caves are a group of caves on the right bank of the stream called the Awirs, near the village of Awirs in Flémalle, Belgium. The caves are notable for their past fossil finds, particularly of hominins. They were explored in 1829 by Philippe-Charles Schmerling, who discovered, in the lower cave, the remains of two individuals, one of which, now known as Engis 2, was a fossil of the first Neanderthal ever found; the other was a Neolithic homo sapiens. Also known as Trô Cwaheur or Trou Caheur, this lower cave has since collapsed. A third cave was destroyed because of work on the adjacent quarry, the Ancienne Carrière des Awirs.
  The caves have been classified on the list of Cultural Heritage of Wallonia sites since 1978, as well as Exceptional Cultural Heritage of Wallonia since 2013, because of the Neanderthal fossil.
context_section_description: The lower cave was known as Trô Cwaheur. It also opened to the north but has since been destroyed following collapses in 1993 and 2006. At the time of Schmerling's exploration, it measured 4 m wide by 5 m high. A first chamber was 12 m deep and the cave continued beyond as a gallery with soil and bones. To the left of the entrance was another gallery with stalactites measuring 150cm long. Another gallery ascended into a second, smaller, chamber which was strewn with bones:
  bones of bear, hyena, rhinoceros; some entire, some broken and showing evidence of having been moved by water
  a large human incisor
  an upper jaw bone with worn teeth
  two vertebrae
  a collarbone
  fragments of a radial bone and ulna
  a metacarpal bone and metatarsal bones
  next to animal remains, the skull of Neolithic homo sapiens, an older individual with the facial bones missing; designated Engis 1
  a second skull which fell to pieces when touched. Examination of the upper jaw revealed that adult molars had not yet descended: the individual was 5 or 6 years old at the time of death, and was designated Engis 2, following Schmerling. Milk teeth, collarbone, fragments of a radial bone, ulna, and vertebrae were found as well, leading the discoverer to think he had found the remains of three different individuals. The skull is registered as a national treasure on the List of Classified Properties of the French Community.
caption: Upper caves, and ruins of the bottom cave.
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