Trine Freiesleben and Jean-Claude talking about the fingerprints and where to take OSL samples. Credit: Kristina Thomsen, CC-BY 4.0
Finger marks on a cavern wall in France were created prior to the arrival of Homo sapiens in the area.
According to a recent research study released in the journal PLOS ONE by Jean-Claude Marquet and colleagues from the University of Tours, France, the earliest engravings made by Neanderthals have actually been discovered on a cave wall in France.
Over the past few years, research has clarified the cultural elegance of Neanderthals. However, our understanding of their symbolic and artistic expression remains minimal.
Just a list of symbolic productions is credited to Neanderthals, and the analysis of these is often the subject of argument. In this study, Marquet and colleagues recognized markings on a cave wall in France as the earliest known Neanderthal inscriptions.
Examples of inscriptions discovered in the Roche-Cotard cave (Indre et Loire– France). Credit: Jean-Claude Marquet, CC-BY 4.0
They are, however, of a similar age with cavern inscriptions made by Homo sapiens in other parts of the world. This includes to a growing body of evidence that the habits and activities of Neanderthals were diverse and similarly complex as those of our own forefathers.
The cavern is La Roche-Cotard in the Centre-Val de Loire of France, where a series of non-figurative markings on the wall are analyzed as finger-flutings, marks made by human hands.
Animated 3D Model: The primary decorated wall of the Roche-Cotard cave. Credit: Marquet et al., PLOS ONE, 2023, CC-BY 4.0
The scientists made a plotting analysis and utilized photogrammetry to create 3D designs of these markings, comparing them with known and speculative human markings. Based upon the shape, spacing, and arrangement of these engravings, the group concluded that they are intentional, organized, and intentional shapes developed by human hands.
The group likewise dated cave sediments with optically-stimulated luminescence dating, determining that the cavern ended up being blocked by infilling sediment around 57,000 years earlier, well before Homo sapiens became developed in the region.
This, combined with the truth that stone tools within the cavern are only Mousterian, a technology associated with Neanderthals, is strong proof that these inscriptions are the work of Neanderthals.
Examples of engravings found in the Roche-Cotard cavern (Indre et Loire– France). On the left, the “circular panel” (ogive-shaped tracings) and on the right the “wavy panel” (2 adjoining tracings forming sinuous lines). Credit: Jean-Claude Marquet, CC-BY 4.0
The intent behind them is uncertain because these are non-figurative symbols. They are, however, of a similar age with cavern engravings made by Homo sapiens in other parts of the world. This contributes to a growing body of proof that the habits and activities of Neanderthals were varied and likewise intricate as those of our own forefathers.
The authors add: “Fifteen years after the resumption of excavations at the La Roche-Cotard website, the inscriptions have been dated to over 57,000 years ago and, thanks to stratigraphy, most likely to around 75,000 years back, making this the earliest embellished collapse France, if not Europe!”
Recommendation: “The earliest unambiguous Neanderthal engravings on cave walls: La Roche-Cotard, Loire Valley, France” by Jean-Claude Marquet, Trine Holm Freiesleben, Kristina Jørkov Thomsen, Andrew Sean Murray, Morgane Calligaro, Jean-Jacques Macaire, Eric Robert, Michel Lorblanchet, Thierry Aubry, Grégory Bayle, Jean-Gabriel Bréhéret, Hubert Camus, Pascal Chareille, Yves Egels, Émilie Guillaud, Guillaume Guérin, Pascale Gautret, Morgane Liard, Magen OFarrell, Jean-Baptiste Peyrouse, Edit Thamó-Bozsó, Pascal Verdin, Dorota Wojtczak, Christine Oberlin and Jacques Jaubert, 21 June 2023, PLOS ONE.DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0286568.