Ancient art unearthed in European cave is rewriting what we know about human origins

We all have an idea of the caveman art seen placed onto walls by beings long, long ago, but discoveries in three Spanish caves and one in France have demonstrated that Neanderthals ventured into deep caves and made art there, going beyond our understanding of prehistoric art and the works produced by Homo sapiens.

An article in the Science journal from 2018 details the three caves in Spain as being in Cantabria, Extremadura and Andalucía, while the one in France concerns La Roche-Cotard in Loire Valley, which was discussed in an article in the PLOS One journal in June 2023.

The artwork included things such as geometric shapes, handprints, hand stencils and finger flutings.

skilpad/iStock

Writing in The Conversation on 28 October, Durham University professor Paul Pettitt, who was part of a team of researchers who dated flowstones overlying red pigment art in the three aforementioned Spanish caves, said: "Despite the fact that we know that Neanderthals were capable of producing jewellery and using coloured pigments, there has been much objection to the notion that they explored deep caves and left art on the walls. But recent work has confirmed beyond doubt that they did.

"Even ardent sceptics must agree that this data unambiguously reveal artistic activities in deep caves which can only have been made by Neanderthals.

"The art could represent Neanderthal individuals becoming more aware of their own agency in the world. It might constitute the first evidence of engagement with an imaginary realm."

In other words, it suggests it wasn't just modern humans who possessed the cognitive and imaginative skills to produce complex art, but Neanderthals too.

That challenges the idea of a "culutral explosion" put forward by academics, which focuses solely on the sophisticated artistry of modern humans, by suggesting Neanderthals also possessed such talents.

Pretty cool.

Why not read...

• Stephen Hawking issued a chilling warning to humanity before he died
• Musk backs AI research into Ancient Rome that could rewrite history

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.