Newly uncovered cave art in Europe has revealed that Neanderthals were capable of symbolic expression long before modern humans arrived, rewriting the story of human cultural origins.
These works predate the earliest known Homo sapiens cave art by at least 22,000 years, meaning Neanderthals, not modern humans, were the creators.
The art included carefully arranged stencils made by blowing pigment over hands, geometric signs, color washes and linear motifs pressed into soft cave surfaces.
These findings challenge long-held assumptions that symbolic art and abstract thought were exclusive to modern humans.
The team also found Neanderthal artistic activity at La Roche Cotard, France, where researchers documented organized finger flutings on soft cave surfaces, including wavy, parallel and curved lines, revealing intentional patterns.
There, Neanderthals broke stalactites into sections of equal length and built a large oval structure topped with small fires, an early form of installation or environmental art, far beyond practical or shelter-building purposes.
These discoveries suggested Neanderthals engaged with deep subterranean spaces in highly sophisticated ways, possibly for symbolic, ritual or communal purposes.
They co-existed with modern humans in France and northern Spain for a period between 42,500 and 40,000 years ago, before they eventually disappeared from the fossil record in the region.
For decades, archaeologists debated whether Neanderthals possessed the cognitive ability for symbolic or artistic behavior.
While evidence had existed that they used pigments, created jewelry and fashioned tools, the notion that they ventured deep into caves to make lasting art remained controversial.
Paul Pettitt, professor in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, penned in The Conversation: 'I was part of a team who used this method to date flowstones overlying red pigment art in the three Spanish caves mentioned earlier, demonstrating that hand stencils, dots and color washes must have been created over 64,000 years ago.
'This is a minimum age: the actual age of the images could be much older.
'But even at its youngest range, the images predate the earliest arrival of modern humans (Homo sapiens) in Iberia by at least 22,000 years.
'As Middle Palaeolithic archaeology – the calling cards of the Neanderthals – is common in all three caves, the simplest interpretation that fits the dating is that the authors of the images were Neanderthals.'
The newly dated Spanish caves now provide indisputable proof, including La Pasiega, which contained a 'ladder' motif of horizontal and vertical lines.
Maltravieso was filled with dozens of red ochre hand stencils, some applied by blowing pigment over hands pressed against the wall, and Ardales showed a mix of linear signs, geometric shapes, and handprints that demonstrate deliberate design and planning.
Dating cave art is notoriously difficult, but the researchers used uranium-thorium methods on flowstones formed over the pigments to establish minimum ages.
This technique confirmed that the hand stencils, geometric patterns and linear motifs in Spain were created long before Homo sapiens arrived in the region.
Even at the youngest possible age, these artworks push back the origin of symbolic culture in Europe by tens of thousands of years.
The findings have major implications for understanding human evolution, as they suggest that the cognitive abilities required to produce symbolic art, abstract thinking, planning and engagement with imagined concepts were present in Neanderthals as well as modern humans.
These discoveries challenge the traditional 'cultural explosion' narrative of the Upper Paleolithic, which credited modern humans alone with sophisticated symbolic behavior.
While all Neanderthal cave art discovered so far is non-figurative, meaning no depictions of animals or humans, the deliberate nature of the markings demonstrates intentional artistic practice.
The linear motifs, stencils, and flutings were purposefully arranged, showing planning and a sense of design.
The Bruniquel construction, in particular, represented an innovative use of space and materials that would be considered art in a modern context.
Experts believe the new discoveries are only the beginning, as deep caves are difficult to explore and dating methods are complex, but ongoing research is likely to uncover additional examples of Neanderthal artistic activity.
These findings rewrite our understanding of Neanderthals, removing the stereotype of them as crude 'cavemen' and instead revealing a population capable of abstract thought, creativity, and cultural expression.
