Sunday, June 24, 2012

What if? Neanderthals?

What if the oldest dated cave art that we know of so far was made by our Neanderthal predecessors instead of the modern humans? According to Joao Zilhao, an anthropologist at the University of Barcelona there is a strong possibility that art in a cave at El Castillo in Spain was made by Neanderthals.

"Study authors say they could have been from modern man decorating their new digs or they could have been the working of the long-time former tenant of Europe: the Neanderthal. Scientists said Neanderthals were in Europe from about 250,000 years ago until about 35,000 years ago. Modern humans arrived in Europe about 41,000 to 45,000 years ago — with some claims they moved in even earlier — and replaced Neanderthals."
El Castillo Cave, Spain
I would like to throw out a question here, what if the art impulse that we humans have comes from our Neanderthal ancestors? They are family, we share DNA of 1 to 4 percent from them.

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