A finger imprint of 43,000 years could demonstrate the ability to abstraction of Neanderthals – Liberation

For the scientific police, the analysis of fingerprints is not exceptional … except when it comes to those of a Neanderthal man. Because the members of the Spanish police have contributed to a discovery revealed by a study of which The results were published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences,, May 24. This was concentrated on a single roller discovered in 2022, during the excavation of a underwater shelter, a shallow cave, in San Lazaro, a hundred kilometers north of Madrid.

Far from being a simple pebble, its shape and its structure – with three natural cavities that evoke eyes and a mouth – recall an elongated face. It is in any case what a Neanderthal could have imagined, 43,000 years ago, before placing his finger, soaked in a red pigment, in the very place where he saw the nose.

In addition to constituting what could be the completed human fingerprint the oldest known to the world, it would therefore be, according to the researchers, of « One of the oldest human facial symbolizations of prehistory ».

« All the analyzes carried out suggest an intentional effort to transport and paint the pebble for non -utilitarian purposes, suggesting that it is indeed a Neanderthal work »they specify. While the stones dated from this time generally testify to use as a tool, with its ocher stain, this oblong roller would have only been handled for artistic use. « The pebble of San Lázaro (…) could be described as an object of portable art »estimate the authors of research. Enough to beat in breach The long -maintained image, wrongly representing the men of Neanderthal in rustic, vaulted and primitive beings To assert the superiority of the « Homo sapiens » and the civilized white man.

Before being certain that it was a digital imprint, since the brand is not directly visible on the pebble and akin to a simple stain at first glance, scientists had discovered that it had not appeared naturally. The ocher spot samples, examined using an electron scanning microscope, contain iron oxides and clay minerals, without trace of organic binders. « It is therefore an ocher added to the surface of the pebble »are scientists.

To understand where this task came from, they therefore used a whole battery of tests and techniques to discover lines of crests and hollows compatible with a finger or palm imprint. In this case, probably that of an adult man.

However, the stone was found in a rock shelter where nothing made it possible to make this stain. The ocher used was not present in the cave or around. He could therefore come, like the pebble, from the river bed, Located several meters below. The transport of this stone that does not respond to an accident or a utilitarian reason, the scientists therefore believe that it would have been moved only for what it represented.

An overwhelming artistic discovery since it reflects a symbolic behavior and the ability to abstraction of Neanderthals, whileMuch of the scientific community thought they were unable to. « The fact that the pebble was chosen for its appearance and then marked at the ocher shows that there was a human mind capable of symbolizing, imagining, idealizing and projecting its thoughts on an object »write the researchers who advance the hypothesis of a phenomenon of pareidolia, this cognitive tendency to see faces in objects. Capable of imagining himself on a stone and indulging in abstract art, the Neanderthal man could well be the first of the avant-garde.