Spanish historians, paleontologists and biologists affiliated with institutions across Spain discovered a collection of Neanderthal bones contained in a box of artifacts donated to the Archaeological Museum of Catalonia in 1986. The discovery is detailed in a paper published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science.

In the late 1970s, amateur paleontologist Miguel Aznar discovered numerous artifacts and bones outside the Cova Simania cave near Barcelona. After cleaning the materials, he placed them in a box and remained in his home until they were donated to the museum in 1986. But scientists only studied this in 2020.

The box contained pottery shards and other artifacts, as well as animal bones and 53 Neanderthal bones. Analysis showed that these were bones belonging to three individuals: an adult, possibly a female; a child, probably 11 or 12 years old; and another child who the team estimated was between 7 and 8 years old.

The bones date back approximately 50,000 years. Researchers are still trying to extract DNA from the bones to learn more about them and to find out whether Neanderthals are related. Scientists say the bone collection is also the most important find of Neanderthal bones in the region and possibly the entire Iberian Peninsula.