Neanderthals and Jewelry

Neanderthals are commonly portrayed as idiotic thinkers. For instance, I remember a comic strip that illustrated a Neanderthal, or cave man as I knew them then, constructing a piano only to play it with his head when finished. Through studying the evolution of artistic expression, we are able to recognize that our Stone Age ancestors do not receive proper credit for their industrious and innovative mentalities. A recent article written by Charles Choi of Scientific American explains the discovery of intellectual Neanderthal art—in this case, painted shells. In addition to Neanderthal inventions such as fire and hunting tools, they also used artwork to express their evolutionary traits.

Charles Choi writes from Spain to share newly discovered painted scallops and cockleshells that provide the first evidence of Neanderthals ability to make jewelry. These findings confirmed that Neanderthals were capable of symbolism—a superior mental state that was believed to be missing during the Stone Age and reason to why modern humans replaced Neanderthals in the evolutionary chain. Researchers assumed Neanderthals lacked symbolism due to missing evidence that was being found in other areas that modern humans originated, such as body ornaments found in Africa and the Near East up to 120,000 years ago. In fact, previously found Neanderthal art and jewelry including grooved animal-tooth pendants and decorated limestone was assumed to be that of modern humans. Fortunately, archaeologist Joao Zilhao and his colleagues have found 50,000-year-old jewelry at two caves in Spain, years before modern humans entered Europe.
Apparently, they also found inventions such as paint cups made from oyster shells that held the charcoal used to paint jewelry.

In concluding his research, Zilhao claims that: “Neanderthals had the same capabilities for symbolism, imagination, and creativity as modern humans.” Many archaeologists hope that findings such as these shells will help to erase the outdated stereotype of Neanderthals being “stupid.” Focusing on subject areas such as artistic expression is crucial to helping date evolutionary changes and learning about each species culture.