By Paul Pettitt / The Conversation
One of the most hotly debated questions in the history of Neanderthal research has been whether they created art. In the past few years, the consensus has become that they did, sometimes. But, like their relations at either end of the hominid evolutionary tree, chimpanzees and Homo sapiens , Neanderthals’ behavior varied culturally from group to group and over time.
Their art was perhaps more abstract than the stereotypical figure and animal cave paintings Homo sapiens made after the Neanderthals disappeared about 30,000 years ago. But archaeologists are beginning to appreciate how creative Neanderthal art was in its own right.
Homo sapiens are thought to have evolved in Africa from at least 315,000 years ago. Neanderthal populations in Europe have been traced back at least 400,000 years.
As early as 250,000 years ago , Neanderthals were mixing minerals such as haematite (ochre) and manganese with fluids to make red and black paints – presumably to decorate the body and clothing .
It’s Human Nature
Research by Palaeolithic archaeologists in the 1990s radically changed the common view of Neanderthals as dullards. We now know that, far from trying to keep up with the Homo sapiens , they had a nuanced behavioral evolution of their own. Their large brains earned their evolutionary keep.
We know from finding remains in underground caves , including footprints and evidence of tool use and pigments in places where Neanderthals…
