If  you look at Palaeolithic cave paintings, you see how people were depicted inside nature, not outside it. It was a kind of dream time. That’s what I’m exploring” - Gregory Colbert 

Long before modern humans held a paint brush in their hands and called themselves artists, our seemingly boorish relatives had already accomplished the task of painting several caves.Cueva de Ardales, is one such example, in the mountainous range of Málaga province, Spain, which was discovered when the hidden entrance was revealed after the occurrence of an earthquake.
Initially it was thought that the  staining had occurred naturally in the cave. However, recent study published in PNAS claim that the red ochre markings in the stalagmite dome of the three caves in the Iberian Peninsula are over 60,000 years old and are created by the Neanderthals. It is further suggested that these stained markings were made at least 20,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe and were made through the continuous  process of spattering and blowing. Interestingly, this pigment was applied different times on the caves. Therefore, it can be concluded that Neanderthals revisited the site over and over again to make these supposedly symbolic markings 

It is also observed in the study that due to their unusual colour and texture these deposits stand out from other natural materials which were sampled from the caves. The researchers  have argued that these markings were not a work of  art in the conventional sense, rather these were a consequence of “ graphical behaviour” intended to create visual symbols. 

This discovery changes the way we think about the Neanderthals and now we can safely attribute them  more intelligence and creative inclination. Neanderthals also made some engravings in a cave in Gibraltar, on the southern tip of Europe, which were first discovered in 2014. All of these evidences compel us to think that the Neanderthals were not as coarse and uncouth as we had thought them to be, rather they they were able to comprehend and create art.

Image Credits: 
Photograph: Joao Zilhao/ICREA/AFP/Getty Images