For the past 10 years Grotte de Cussac cave in Dordogne, France has been a second home for Dr Eline Schotsmans, a Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong and the University of Bordeaux.
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Dr Schotsmans is part of a research team working at the site of stunning cave art, which also contains more than 800 figurative engravings of animals and humans that are between 25,000 and 30,000 years old.
It also contains the remains of at least six humans, dated to the same period. With one possible exception, it is the only known example of human remains interred so deep within a cave that also contains artworks.
Led by the University of Bordeaux's Professor Jacques Jaubert, the team has been studying these human remains in situ to discover what they reveal about the lives, customs and beliefs of the people of that time.
Their research is published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
Dr Schotsmans said that in addition to the usual challenges involved in piecing together the ancient past from its archaeological remains, the Grotte de Cussac project presented the researchers with a number of other obstacles.
The French Ministry of Culture has classified the cave a national heritage site and restricted access to it. Research has to be conducted on site and only by observation - no excavations are allowed and nothing can be removed from the cave.
Because of high carbon dioxide levels, the cave is only accessible a few months a year.
Researchers have to wear cleaned and sterilised protective suits and gumboots in the cave.
Dr Schotsmans' expertise is in funerary practices and burial taphonomy (the study of human decomposition).
"In the Cussac Cave, the use of ochre in burials shows symbolic behaviour, as does the deposition of human remains in a cave decorated with art," she said.
"There was an intentional selection of certain bones. For example, in most depositions no crania were present but teeth were, which shows the crania were deliberately taken. This reveals that the people of this time were dealing with their dead, were manipulating the dead and 'looking after' the deceased."
Dr Schotsmans added the number of individuals interred in the cave and the absence of children and infants is revealing.
"This tells us something about the society and social differentiation, because only a part of society receives this special treatment," Dr Schotsmans said.
"Why were these six individuals deposited in the cave? Where are the other deceased? Why only teenagers and adults? Were those people different from others, and why?
"We have more to learn about the Grotte de Cussac people, but this study gives us a window onto the complex social landscape of our ancient ancestors."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
