Neanderthal Art: Symbolic Thought

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And now the piece.

Neanderthal Art: Symbolic Thought

Before 64000 BCE

Upper Paleolithic

It’s clear: neanderthals created art. The discovery of cave paintings in Spain, dated to over 64,000 years ago, marked a profound shift in our understanding of Neanderthals. Found in sites such as La Pasiega, Maltravieso, and Ardales, these artworks — comprising abstract symbols, geometric patterns, and hand stencils — are attributed to Neanderthals, predating the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe. This corrected the longstanding perception that Neanderthals lacked symbolic thought and artistic expression.

The presence of these ancient artworks, along with evidence of personal ornaments like decorated shells, suggests that Neanderthals engaged in behaviors once thought exclusive to modern humans. This includes the creation of art and the use of symbolic communication, indicating a level of cognitive sophistication and cultural complexity previously unrecognized. These findings not only expand our understanding of Neanderthal capabilities but also blur the lines between them and our own ancestors, highlighting a shared capacity for creativity and symbolic thinking in the human lineage.

Here's the key idea. Most scientists treat Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo sapiens as separate species that interbred, but the debate remains open.

Finally, the core takeaway. Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans could interbreed, and some of their descendants were fertile, so the line between them was clearly not absolute. Still, most scientists continue to classify them as separate species because they followed distinct evolutionary paths for long stretches of time. The debate continues, with some arguing they were closer to subspecies than fully separate species.

That Science Story,

was first published on TST 2 years ago.

The flashcard inspired by it is this.

Front: The term for the mixing of DNA between previously separated populations.

Back: Admixture

All this is part of the broader TST project.

When a source is corrected or expanded, it can be updated once at the tidbit level and reflected everywhere it appears.

Rather than publishing for immediacy, the TouchstoneTruth project releases one edition per week of the TST Weekly Column while allowing ideas to mature long before and long after publication.

The end!