Ancient Fingerprint Art

In a remarkable discovery near Segovia, Spain, archaeologists unearthed a 43,000-year-old granite pebble bearing a red ochre fingerprint—believed to be the world's oldest complete human fingerprint and a rare example of Neanderthal symbolic art. The fingerprint, likely from an adult male Neanderthal, was deliberately placed to enhance the stone's natural facial features, suggesting a capacity for abstract thinking and artistic expression. This find challenges long-held beliefs about Neanderthal cognitive abilities, indicating they engaged in symbolic behavior previously attributed solely to modern humans. The deliberate selection and modification of the pebble imply that Neanderthals possessed imagination and the ability to project meaning onto objects, highlighting their complex inner lives and narrowing the perceived gap between them and Homo sapiens.

Image via Springer Nature

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