On Thursday, Saudi Arabia closed off the holiest sites in Islam to foreign pilgrims over the  threat of the coronavirus, disrupting travel for thousands of Muslims already headed to the kingdom and potentially affecting plans later this year for millions more ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan and the annual hajj pilgrimage. The unprecedented move, which wasn’t taken even during the 1918 flu epidemic that killed tens of millions worldwide, showed the growing worry about the virus across the Middle East, which has more than 360 confirmed cases.

The Washington Post reported that a Neanderthal skeleton unearthed in the Shanidar Cave in the semiautonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq is providing new evidence that our ancestors buried their dead. Scientists reported last week that new analysis of a well-preserved upper-body skeleton of an adult Neanderthal who lived about 70,000 years ago contradicts offers new insight on prehistoric rituals. Archaeologists in 1960 found the remains of 10 Neanderthals — seven adults and three infants — in the cave. The cave offered insight into the physical characteristics, behavior and diet of this species. At that time,  clusters of flower pollen found in soil samples associated with one of the skeletons prompted scientists to propose that Neanderthals buried their dead and conducted funerary rites with flowers, which challenged prevailing beliefs that Neanderthals lacked intelligence. Debate ensued as some suggested the pollen could have been modern contamination from people working and living in the cave or from burrowing rodents or insects. However, review of the 1960 remains of “Shanidar Z” suggest that the body was “deliberately placed in an intentionally dug depression cut into the subsoil and part of a cluster of four individual remains.” Furthermore, the sediment around the site contained ancient pollen and other mineralized plant remains, reviving the possibility of flower burials. Read more about the skeletons of the Shanidar Cave.