The ancient imprint of a person’s fingers suggests that the Neanderthals made art

Scientists in Spain say they have discovered the oldest full imprint of a person after the opening of the rock, which, according to them, resembles a human face and believes that Neanderthals can make art.

The Neanderthal man is assumed to immerse his finger into the red pigment to draw his nose to pebbles about 43,000 years ago. The rock was discovered at the Saint -Lazar asylum in Spain in Segovia.

The “strategic position” Dot made scientists consider it as a testimony of “symbolic behavior” of Neanderthals, which suggests that they are able to think about things in an abstract way.

The data obtained contributes to the constant discussion on the ability of the Neanderthals to do art, said co-author Maria de Andres Gerrero.

In an interview with Newsday BBC Newsday, Professor De Andres Herrero, at Madrid University, stated that the excavations at the shelter had started five years ago, and in 2022 they found a stone below 1.5 m (5 feet) deposits from the Neanderthar group.

“At first, we couldn’t believe what we looked at, because there was a larger stone compared to other stones that appeared on this site, with a red point just in the middle that resembled the human face.”

It was unclear whether the point was made with a natural clay pigment. Once the research team was able to confirm that it was a pigment, Professor de Andres Herrer said to contact Spain’s scientific police support their efforts.

This team was able to conduct deep studies using the multi-spectrum analysis and they determined the imprint of the fingers.

The analysis of the pebbles also suggested that the imprint of the finger was an adult man, the team investigation reports.

But archaeologist David Alvarez Alvarez, co -author of the study, said that since there were no other Neanderthal links to compare prints, it was difficult to say for sure.

Speaking from a press conference that updates the public on scientific development, the Spanish official Gonzal Santonia said that Halek was the oldest portable object that was drawn on the European continent and “the only object of portable art painted by Neanderthals”.

Professor de Andres Herrero said the conclusions of her research group point out “an important contribution to the discussion on the symbolic capacity of Neanderthals, as it is the first known pigment object in the archaeological context,” and “it is clear that it is a non-leandal site.”

In addition to this, the person’s imprint was found in an ambiguous context, the expert added, believing that the point on the stone was intended for artistic purposes.

Professor Gerrer also stated that this was the first time scientists discovered a stone in an archaeological context with points of red, that is, the Neanderthals brought it to the shelter.

Thinking that one of the Neanderthals found a stone, “which caught his attention from the cracks, and he intentionally made his mark with a spot of ocher (pigment) in the middle of the object,” said Prof.

Researchers believe that the sign was not random because, according to them, the red pigment does not exist naturally in the shelter, that is, it was “intentionally brought to the shelter”.

In their work that was Published in the magazine by archaeological and anthropological sciencesThe researchers wrote: “San Lazar-rock-rock-rock pebbles presents a number of characteristics that make it exceptional, on the basis of which we considered it a visual symbol, which in some contexts can be considered a work of portable art.”