Wender·Vista
Shanidar Cave
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIraq
in the Bradost Mountain of Iraqi Kurdistan

Shanidar Cave

— — a doorway forty thousand years deep.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A wide-mouthed cave high in the Bradost Mountain, north of Erbil. Ralph Solecki's team uncovered ten Neanderthal skeletons here between 1951 and 1960; one was buried with clusters of pollen the excavators read as flowers laid in the grave. Kurdish villagers still pasture goats on the slope below. The cave keeps giving up bone. A fresh dig opened in 2014.

from the studio
Shanidar Cave
— bring it home

Shanidar Cave, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Shanidar Cave

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Shanidar Cave opens at about 745 metres in the Bradost Mountain, in the Erbil Governorate of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The mouth is some 25 metres wide and 8 metres high, opening south over the Greater Zab valley. The site lies about 100 kilometres north of Erbil and 12 kilometres south of the Turkish border, in a region of oak woodland and seasonal pasture used by Kurdish villagers from Shanidar village in the valley below.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the year

Ralph Solecki of Columbia University excavated the cave between 1951 and 1960, recovering the remains of ten Neanderthal individuals dated between roughly 65,000 and 35,000 years before present. Shanidar 4, the flower burial, contained concentrated clusters of pollen, yarrow, cornflower, and grape hyacinth, that Solecki read as flowers placed in the grave. A new excavation led by Cambridge began in 2014 and uncovered a further articulated upper-body skeleton, named Shanidar Z, in 2018.

— the silence

The cave has been a shelter for forty thousand years. After the Neanderthals came Proto-Neolithic burials around 10,000 BCE; in the twentieth century Kurdish villagers used the chamber to overwinter goats. The smoke-darkened ceiling carries the marks of both. The valley below has been one of the contested edges of the modern world. The cave was closed during the Iran-Iraq war and the years of conflict that followed, but the limestone holds, and the bone keeps coming up.

— informed by BBC: Shanidar Z (2020)
— where
Iraq · Soran District, Erbil Governorate, Kurdistan Region
— elevation
745 m · 2,444 ft
— position
36.8333° N · 44.2167° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
1 km S
Shanidar village
valley village
5 km S
Greater Zab
river
40 km E
Rawanduz
gorge town
100 km S
Erbil
capital city
25 km W
Barzan
mountain village
N
Shanidar Cave
Shanidar village
Greater Zab
Rawanduz
Erbil
Barzan
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Shanidar Cave — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

In the Bradost Mountain of the Erbil Governorate, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, about 100 kilometres north of Erbil. The cave mouth opens south over the Greater Zab valley.

The remains of ten Neanderthal individuals, dated between roughly 65,000 and 35,000 years before present. One burial, Shanidar 4, contained pollen clusters read as flowers placed in the grave.

Ralph Solecki of Columbia University led the first excavations between 1951 and 1960. A Cambridge-led team has worked the site again since 2014 and uncovered Shanidar Z in 2018.

The grave of Shanidar 4, an adult Neanderthal male buried with concentrated clusters of yarrow, cornflower, and grape hyacinth pollen. Solecki read the clusters as deliberately placed flowers.

Yes, with a guide from Soran or Erbil. The cave is reached by a dirt road from Shanidar village and a short uphill climb. Travel conditions in Kurdistan vary; check current advisories.

The mouth is roughly 25 metres wide and 8 metres high, opening south. The chamber inside runs back about 40 metres into the limestone of Bradost Mountain.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well for both. Kurdish customers recognise the Bradost ridge; archaeology and palaeoanthropology readers know Shanidar by name. The Medium reads strongly as a study or library anchor.

The warm ochres and stone-blues suit study and library interiors, warm-minimalist rooms with linen and oak, and jewel-tone walls in deeper rooms.

Yes. Archaeologically grounded landscapes have become a quiet anchor in warm-minimalist and earth-tone rooms, paired with linen, undyed wool, and oxidised brass.

A single Large reads as the cave mouth itself. For a wider wall, a 4-tile Mural opens the valley below; a 9-tile Mural carries a long entry hall.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and made for vertical installations exposed to steam and splash.

A soft microfibre cloth with water is enough. The colour lives in the surface beneath a thin clear finish; no polish, no ceramic cleaner needed.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is made in our studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. The art is not licensed or sourced; the eye is Reid's.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.