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

The left shoulder blade revealed three fractures spreading out from the 1.5cm-wide hole and fragments of bone that filled the wound. Photograph: University of Cambridge

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.