Enlarge image
Dripstones with red markings in the Cueva de Ardales cave
Photo: JOAO ZILHAO / AFP
Researchers have found further evidence that, contrary to popular belief, the Neanderthals did have a sense of art.
An article published on Monday in the US journal »PNAS« clearly attributes the painting of stalagmites in a cave in southern Spain to the relatives of modern humans.
The assumption that Neanderthals could be the originators of cave art in Ardales near Málaga was first expressed in 2018 - and had sparked considerable discussion.
Investigations of the layers of paint on the rock forms had dated them to more than 64,800 years ago.
Modern man did not yet live in Europe at that time and was therefore out of the question.
Another scientific publication later stated, however, that a natural origin of the layers of paint could not be ruled out.
Investigations have now refuted this possibility, said Francesco d'Errico, co-author of the article, the AFP news agency.
"It is very much a question of ocher pigments that were very likely brought into the grotto."
The analyzes also showed that the painted stalagmites have different types of color pigments that were applied at different times.
This “supports the hypothesis that the Neanderthals came several times, over several thousand years, to mark this cave with pigments,” says d'Errico, who researches at the University of Bordeaux.
"That's not exactly what you can call art"
However, the stalagmite art of the Neanderthals can only be compared to a limited extent with cave paintings of modern man, which were found in numerous places, especially in today's France.
"That may not be exactly what you can call art," the researcher admitted.
But it is definitely a kind of "symbolic action".
At the beginning of July, research results from scientists at the University of Göttingen had already proven the “creativity” of the Neanderthals.
Accordingly, patterns on a deer bone over 50,000 years old turned out to be decorations.
The foot bone of a giant deer was probably first boiled in order to then carve the pattern into the softened bone surface with stone tools.
Neanderthal jewelry objects had never been dated to more than 40,000 years ago.
Many researchers therefore regard them as imitations, because by this time modern humans had already spread to parts of Europe.
But apparently the Neanderthals also had creative powers of their own.
mjm / AFP