Unexpected discovery: the oldest cave art belongs to Neanderthals

A new international study shows that the oldest cave art appeared in the world before modern humans arrived in Europe for about 20 thousand years.

New findings about the age of

According to AFP news agency, the oldest cave art has been identified by new technologies by Neanderthals. That shows that our extinct brother also has abstract thinking like the modern Homo sapiens, the immediate ancestor of humanity.

The report, published in Science magazine, revealed the approximate age of ancient cave paintings in three different archaeological sites in Spain. Lead researcher, Chris Standish archaeologist from Southampton University (UK), said it was the oldest dating cave art images in the world so far. The new survey results show that the age of the paintings is 64 thousand years, meaning earlier than the time of modern people to Europe for 20 thousand years. Therefore, their authors must be Neanderthals."This is an incredibly interesting finding that Neanderthals are far more subtle than the popular belief (of them long ago)," AFP quoted Chris as saying.

" Symbolic material culture is a sign of a fundamental step in human evolution, one of the main pillars that helps us become human , " said study co-author Dirk Hoffmann from the academy. Max Planck about evolutionary anthropology in Germany. So the iconic paint with red markings adorned with some simple images in the three caves of La Pasiega, Maltravieso, Ardales in Spain that were once thought to be an "exclusive" art. only in modern people.

Scientists work in the cave Ardales in Spain.(Photo: AFP).

There have been extinct myths about 35 thousand years ago as brutal men drag their elbows, but later science has found much evidence that our brothers are also capable of doing so. decorative rituals and tendencies like burial of bodies."In recent years there have been studies showing that Neanderthals can widely use decorative objects, construct structures, and in general, appear to be more likely to implement symbolic cognitive processes. more than what has been recorded in history " , And this new study has proven that now even " cave art is not a distinguishing feature of modern and Neanderthal people " , the idea of Assistant Professor Adam Van Arsdale on anthropology at Wellesley College in the United States.

Hand-painted color frames in a cave in Spain are defined as new age up to 66 thousand years, so this may be the work of the Neanderthals (Photo: H. Collad, AP).

New age inspection technology

According to Assistant Professor Adam, in addition to demonstrating Neanderthal's artistic abilities, the new study also "reflects impressive technological advances in cave dating techniques, the problem is always a challenge in Our understanding of the timing of important events in human evolution ".

Currently, it is difficult to understand the age of cave paintings without destroying them. The new method used to determine the minimum age of cave art in this study is the Uranium-Thorium (U-Th) dating technique . After examining the CaCO ₃ shells on the color plates, scientists will analyze their age according to the decay of uranium isotope radiation to thorium. According to the report, this technique could determine the age at which CaCO _{3 is} formed up to half a million years, far more than many of the currently popular radiocarbon methods.

In addition to the above study, the international team of anthropologist Hoffmann also published another work that identifies the age of an archaeological mine located in a sea cave in Spain. The results of the dating survey also show that the art in this cave may be of Neanderthals.

In particular, the art of decoration in the cave of Cueva de los Aviones in southeastern Spain is a shell of sea shells, yellow and red markings and seashell containers that blend complex colors. The age of the bedrock (rock deposited into slabs due to ceiling or cave walls) is determined by the new U-Th dating technique up to 115 thousand years. This rock is older than similar rock layers in northern and southern Africa that are related to modern humans. 115 thousand years was the time when Neanderthals were living in Western Europe.

The antiquities in the Cueva de los Aviones sea cave, Spain are aged up to 115 thousand years.Therefore, they can also be the creation of Neanderthals.(Photo: AP).

In a nutshell : "According to our new data, Neanderthals and modern people share abstract thinking and it is difficult to distinguish (the difference in that thinking) in terms of cognition" , a researcher rescued and participated in both projects from the Catalan Institute for advanced research in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

Another author of the studies said that the upcoming works will reveal more caves that might be created by Neanderthals in it. Scientists have evidence that the three caves far away from Cueva de los Aviones also have a long tradition, and it is possible that the same cave art in other Western European caves comes from Neanderthals. , according to author Paul Pettitt from Durham University.