Wikipedia
Teshik-Tash is an archaeological site in Uzbekistan in central Asia.
During the excavation in 1938 by A. P. Okladnikov in the Bajsuntau cave remains of a Neanderthal male child were discovered in a shallow pit, reported as in association with five pairs of Ibex horns. Through dental analysis the skull was said to have been an 8-9 year old child. Fragments of several ibex ‘horn cores’ from Siberian mountain goats were also recovered from the cave. The horn cores were found around the perimeter of the grave surrounding the cranial remains. Researchers believe that the ibex horn cores suggest that the Teshik-Tash child was buried in a ritual manner.
The site was excavated in five cultural layers of sediment. The skull was unearthed along with artifacts described as Mousterian tool assemblage.
Lack of adequate published material on the excavation and the numerous number of Ibex bones (761) found led to this interpretation being questioned. Paul Mellars, questioning the ritual interpretation suggested that the bones may not have been deliberately placed.