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Neanderthal remains may be earliest human ancestor find killed by a spear

15 October 2026 at 11:00

Adult excavated in an Iraqi Kurdistan cave died more than 70,000 years ago and bears ‘kill shot’ shoulder wound

A smooth round hole in the shoulder blade of a Neanderthal who died more than 70,000 years ago may be the oldest evidence so far of a human ancestor being killed by a wooden spear.

Archaeologists spotted the distinctive injury after excavating skeletal remains of the adult and other Neanderthals from under nearly 8 metres of rock and sediment in the Shanidar cave in Iraqi Kurdistan.

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© Photograph: University of Cambridge

© Photograph: University of Cambridge

© Photograph: University of Cambridge

Senior academics set out key questions Cambridge must answer over Jason Arday’s death

6 October 2026 at 14:44

Letter from more than 40 signatories says university has backed away from promised thorough review of events before death

Senior Cambridge academics have criticised the university’s plans to investigate Prof Jason Arday’s death as inadequate, and said those responsible for “serious failures of leadership” should face consequences.

In a letter to Chris Smith, Cambridge’s chancellor, the academics said “it is not yet clear” how the proposed review will answer difficult questions about the university’s involvement in the events leading up to Arday’s death, including its handling of the criticism Arday suffered after his appointment as professor of sociology of education in 2023.

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© Photograph: Chris Radburn/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chris Radburn/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chris Radburn/AFP/Getty Images

Perhaps Britain's most hated thinker

29 September 2026 at 05:06
And so we come to the celebrated moment, described many times and most vividly in Gentle Regrets, when looking down from the little flat on the Rue de Bérite, Scruton recoiled with all his mind and heart from the revolutionary spirit of 1968. Probing his friends' politics in the following days, he became convinced that whatever he believed, it was the opposite of that. "I came back to Cambridge," he once said, "determined to reanimate a political outlook for the modern world."

Scruton, previously
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