Panel 3 in Maltravieso Cave showing 3 hand stencils (centre right, centre top and top left). One has been dated to at least 66,000 years ago and must have been made by a Neanderthal (colour enhanced). [Credit: H. Collado]
Posted on 03/13/2018 10:41:28 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A new study led by the University of Southampton and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology shows that paintings in three caves in Spain were created more than 64,000 years ago - 20,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe.
This means that the Palaeolithic (Ice Age) cave art - including pictures of animals, dots and geometric signs - must have been made by Neanderthals, a 'sister' species to Homo sapiens, and Europe's sole human inhabitants at the time.
It also indicates that they thought symbolically, like modern humans.
Published today in the journal Science, the study reveals how an international team of scientists used a state-of-the-art technique called uranium-thorium dating to fix the age of the paintings as more than 64,000 years.
Until now, cave art has been attributed entirely to modern humans, as claims to a possible Neanderthal origin have been hampered by imprecise dating techniques. However, uranium-thorium dating provides much more reliable results than methods such as radiocarbon dating, which can give false age estimates.
The uranium-thorium method involves dating tiny carbonate deposits that have built up on top of the cave paintings. These contain traces of the radioactive elements uranium and thorium, which indicate when the deposits formed - and therefore give a minimum age for whatever lies beneath.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
Panel 3 in Maltravieso Cave showing 3 hand stencils (centre right, centre top and top left). One has been dated to at least 66,000 years ago and must have been made by a Neanderthal (colour enhanced). [Credit: H. Collado]
[I managed to lose the URL for this]
Abstract — The extent and nature of symbolic behavior among Neandertals are obscure. Although evidence for Neandertal body ornamentation has been proposed, all cave painting has been attributed to modern humans. Here we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimum ages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil in Maltravieso (Extremadura), and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucía). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years (ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship.
Yeah, but their self portraits were not much to look at.
Antediluvian humans. Probably the Nephilim.
So were they a different species of humans or a sub-species of humans?
Have the decided yet.
Any updates on the Desonovians?
OK, just how does making hand stencils demonstrate abstract art?
My dog makes temporary paw stencils when he walks in the snow.
Beautiful painting.
Given evidence of Neanderthal genes in modern Europeans, I’m leaning towards considering them as a race, rather than an entirely separate species.
Ask Brock Lesnar if he likes to draw.
Solutreans?
Making a large, (>5" long) symmetrical, thin, and sharp tool like this (and from poor material, to boot) rquires the full suite of lithic tools & technique: hard (stone) hammers, soft (antler, bone) hammers, and pressure flakers (antler tips).
And... each of those tools depends on an entirely different physical operating principle from the other two!
Now that my hand strength and hand-eye coordination have begun to wane, I might be able to replicate this specimen -- using high quality, glass-like material. But, I'd hate to have my next meal depend on doing so with that granular, difficult-to-work material!
Whoever made the above Solutrean specimen certainly was not a brutish, ignorant , clumsy savage...
OK, just how does making hand stencils demonstrate abstract art?
—
It makes the statement, 65,000 years ago, a human made the statement, “I was here. I existed.”
I remember when Neanderthals were depicted as walking apes.
When the first “modern” view was created using forensic tools, all I could think about is they looked like my best friends family.
Still do. Stocky, hairy, and powerfully built.
I remember when Neanderthals were depicted as walking apes.
When the first “modern” view was created using forensic tools, all I could think about is they looked like my best friends family.
Still do. Stocky, hairy, and powerfully built.
I recently made a display for the local Jr College, showing Paleo and Solutrean style blades and points. I used various Texas Cherts just to give it some color differences. If FR would ever get out of the Stone Age and not require third party hosting I would share the pic’s.
Neandertal Man—the changing picture (Creation.com)
"Biblical creationists believe Neandertal Man was just a unique variant of modern man who lived in Europe and adjacent Asia and North Africa after the Babel dispersion in the Ice Age (the aftermath of the Flood). "
Perhaps.
I guess it comes down to how easily they could breed together.
If easily then they would be considered another race.
They have extracted the full Neanderthal DNA so eventually they will figure it out.
They did have notable physical differences. Shorter forearms, etc.
BTW, was that your own work -- or photos of others' work?
Sadly, I had a nice supply of blue-gray Georgetown chert, and some good samples of various Edwards Plateau browns -- but it was in our garage in MA when we had a fire. Now, it's all heat-fractured... :-(
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![Panel 3 in Maltravieso Cave showing 3 hand stencils (centre right, centre top and top left). One has been dated to at least 66,000 years ago and must have been made by a Neanderthal (colour enhanced). [Credit: H. Collado]](https://media.eurekalert.org/multimedia_prod/pub/web/163244_web.jpg)
