Neanderthals may have been first human species to create cave paintings
Neanderthals may have been first human species to create cave paintings
Estimates of the age of cave paintings in northern Spain could be the final nail in the coffin of the 'dumb Neanderthals' myth
Alok Jha, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 14 June 2012 14.02 EDT
Several times in the past 10 years scientists have had to rewrite the textbooks on Neanderthals, the latest species of human to go extinct. Once the archetype for primitive, uncivilised behaviour, the species, illuminated through fossil excavations and lately analysis of their genome, has emerged as being not too dissimilar from our own.
Contrary to their dim-witted image Neanderthals have been found to have used tools, to have worn jewellery, and, lastly, to have interbred with our Homo sapiens ancestors to such an extent that 4% of every modern European's genome is traceable to Neanderthal origins.
Now comes what could be the final nail in the coffin of the "unintelligent Neanderthals" myth: they might have been the first human species to paint in caves.
Using state-of-the-art techniques scientists have dated cave paintings at 11 locations in north Spain, including the Unesco World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo. Samples from 50 paintings of different styles were collected and the scientists discovered that a red disc on the wall of the El Castillo cave had to be more than 40,800 years old.
More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/14/neanderthals-first-create-cave-paintings