Scientists have found dozens of animal skulls brought here 40,000 years ago in a Neanderthal cave in Spain. And the discovery puzzled researchers who didn't know what the skulls were used for, according to Cosmos Magazine..

Cueva des Cubierta is a multi-level cave system that was discovered in Spain in 1978.. For decades, scientists have studied the system and found signs that it was used by Neanderthals for rituals..

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On the third level of the cave, scientists found 35 skulls of large animals, all of which had horns.. Among them were 28 head of cattle, including bison and aurochs, five deer and two rhinos..

Neanderthal teeth and tools have been found nearby, which indicate that ancient people lived in these caves.. Scientists note that animal bones have been found in Neanderthal caves before, but this discovery is different.. The researchers believe that the presence of these skulls is not due to the fact that the animals were eaten..

Finding animal skulls in caves where ancient people lived is a rarity. They are heavy, difficult to carry and provide little meat.. The fact that few animal teeth and other bones were found in the caves indicates that they were killed elsewhere, and the skulls were deliberately brought.

Therefore, scientists believe that animal skulls had a symbolic meaning for Neanderthals.. However, how exactly they were used is still unknown.. The rituals that Neanderthals performed using animal bones are also unknown..

Analysis of the bones showed that the heads had been carefully separated from the bodies of the animals and processed using a variety of tools.. The fact that the skulls still have horns may indicate that they were trophies from a hunt..

Previously, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology were the first to find the remains of an entire family of Neanderthals: a father, his teenage daughter, and their more distant relatives.. In the distant past, they lived in the Chagyrskaya cave in Altai.