Still no archaeological evidence that Neanderthals created Iberian cave art

White, Randall; Bosinski, Gerhard; Bourrillon, Raphaëlle; Clottes, Jean; Conkey, Margaret W.; Rodríguez, Soledad Corchón; Sánchez, Miguel Cortés; Vives, Marco de la Rasilla; Delluc, Brigitte; Delluc, Gilles; Feruglio, Valérie; Floss, Harald; Foucher, Pascal; Fritz, Carole; Fuentes, Oscar; Gárate, Diego; Gómez, Jesús González; González-Morales, Manuel R.; Solís, María González-Pumariega; Groenen, Marc; Jaubert, Jacques; Martínez-Aguirre, M. Aránzazu; Alcaide, María-Ángeles Medina; Abadía, Óscar Moro; Peredo, Roberto Ontañón; Paillet-Man-Estier, Elena; Paillet, Patrick; Petrognani, Stéphane; Pigeaud, Romain; Pinçon, Geneviève; Plassard, Frédéric; López, Sergio Ripoll; Vilá, Olivia Rivero; Robert, Éric; Ruiz-Redondo, Aitor; Ruìz, Juan F.; Juan-Foucher, Cristina San; Torti, José Luis Sanchidrián; Sauvet, Georges; Vallejo, María Dolores Simón; Tosello, Gilles; Utrilla, Pilar; Vialou, Denis; Willis, Mark

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102640

Cited by 63 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…d' Errico and Stringer 2011;Finlayson et al 2012;Aubert et al 2014;Villa and Roebroeks 2014;Jaubert et al 2016;Hoffmann et al 2018). There have been challenges to the claims of Neanderthal authorship of rock art based on issues of contamination with the dating, and similarly with the early dates attributed to some personal ornaments (White et al 2019;Pons-Branchu et al 2020).…”

Section: A Punctuated Originmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semiotics and the Origin of Language in the Lower Palaeolithic

Barham

Everett

2020

J Archaeol Method Theory

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This paper argues that the origins of language can be detected one million years ago, if not earlier, in the archaeological record of Homo erectus. This controversial claim is based on a broad theoretical and evidential foundation with language defined as communication based on symbols rather than grammar. Peirce's theory of signs (semiotics) underpins our analysis with its progression of signs (icon, index and symbol) used to identify artefact forms operating at the level of symbols. We draw on generalisations about the multiple social roles of technology in pre-industrial societies and on the contexts tool-use among non-human primates to argue for a deep evolutionary foundation for hominin symbol use. We conclude that symbol-based language is expressed materially in arbitrary social conventions that permeate the technologies of Homo erectus and its descendants, and in the extended planning involved in the caching of tools and in the early settlement of island Southeast Asia.

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Section: A Punctuated Originmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semiotics and the Origin of Language in the Lower Palaeolithic

Barham

Everett

2020

J Archaeol Method Theory

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“…It is intriguing that the birth of symbolic culture, marked by the use of pigments and personal ornamentation, traces back to the Middle Stone Age with Acheulean tradition at some 300 ka and is itself consistent with human fossil specimens belonging to the species H. heidelbergensis (Henshilwood et al, 2002;d'Errico, 2003;d'Errico and Henshilwood, 2007;Manzi, 2016) and H. neanderthalensis (Zilhão et al, 2010). It must be noted, though, that the indication for symbolic culture in species other than H. sapiens is controversial to say the least (Mcbrearty and Brooks, 2000;White et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Smart Apes to Human Brain Boxes. A Uniquely Derived Brain Shape in Late Hominins Clade

et al. 2020

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“…Middle Palaeolithic cave art was also recently reported from the Iberian caves La Pasiega, Maltravieso and Ardales, based on Uranium-Thorium dating of calcretes that cover simple wall paintings, and a hand stencil (34). The early age of this cave art however is currently debated (35)(36)(37). A few bone and rock items engraved with geometric line patterns have been reported in Neanderthal contexts, but some remain ambiguous (38)(39)(40)(41)(42)27).…”

Section: Introductory Paragraphmentioning

confidence: 97%

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.

Leder¹,

Hermann²,

Cmh³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The Early Upper Palaeolithic of Europe is well-known for its remarkable symbolic expressions which demonstrate the capacity of early modern humans for abstract thinking, storytelling and communication by symbols and adornment. By contrast, the capacity for advanced technology and modern cultural behaviour in (late) Neanderthals is commonly perceived as limited despite recently accumulating evidence to the contrary. Here we report the discovery of a decorated bone item from recent excavations at Einhornhöhle in the Harz Mountains (northern Germany) that is engraved with a geometric motif composed of stacked-offset chevrons. The find is directly dated to ~51,000 years before present and the age is confirmed by further radiocarbon dates. These early dates assigns the decorated bone to late Neanderthals. Experimental studies suggest that the bone was pretreated before carving. The small excavation area produced cut-marked bones while diagnostic Middle Palaeolithic stone artefacts are present within a few meters distance inside the cave. For the first time, we successfully directly dated a decorated item of Middle Palaeolithic origin and our findings show that expressions of symbolic behaviour were part of Neanderthals’ behavioural repertoire before the early modern humans arrived in Central Europe. While located at the northern boundary of the Pleistocene human habitat, northern Central Europe has produced exceptional finds such as wooden weapons, bone tools, adhesives and now evidence for Neanderthal symbolic behaviour, suggesting that challenging environments may have prompted exceptional skills and cognitive abilities in Pleistocene pre-modern humans.

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Still no archaeological evidence that Neanderthals created Iberian cave art

Cited by 63 publications

References 43 publications

Semiotics and the Origin of Language in the Lower Palaeolithic

Semiotics and the Origin of Language in the Lower Palaeolithic

From Smart Apes to Human Brain Boxes. A Uniquely Derived Brain Shape in Late Hominins Clade

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.

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