Around 45,000 years ago, in Iraqi Kurdistan, Neandertals lived in a cave that archaeologists call Shanidar Cave.  One of the interesting things about the Neandertal skeletal remains is the violence demonstrated by crushed skulls and stab wounds.  Keep in mind, it was a cold and forbidding, and hostile, world 45,000 years ago. Neandertals faced not only the encroachment of modern humans but some big–and we mean big–predators.  Saber-toothed cats and dire wolves that make “Ghost” in Game of Thrones look puny in comparison.      http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/150420152