Neanderthal Art: The 130,000-Year-Old Bear Bone Enigma
Exploring the Origins of Symbolic Culture in Neanderthals
A bone, meticulously carved with 17 parallel incisions, offers a window into the ancient world of the Neanderthals. Discovered in Poland, this artifact challenges our understanding of their cognitive abilities and symbolic culture.
Uncovering Neanderthal Artistry
The bone, originally thought to be a bear rib, emerged from Dziadowa Skała Cave in 1953, unveiling its true nature as a juvenile bear's arm bone. This 130,000-year-old relic captivates researchers, hinting at the cognitive prowess of our distant relatives. Tomasz Płonka, professor of archaeology at the University of Wrocław,
“It is one of the quite rare Neanderthal objects of symbolic nature. These incisions have no utilitarian reason."
Deliberate Crafting and Advanced Cognition
A detailed examination using 3D microscopy and CT scans reveals deliberate markings, suggesting intentional organization. The repetitive, similar, limited, and organized incisions indicate a sophisticated cognitive process behind their creation, challenging previous notions of Neanderthal capabilities. Excerpt from the study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science1,
"The marks showed several characteristics of intentional organization. For instance, the marks were repetitive, meaning that the incisions were repeated in a similar fashion; similar, because they all belong to the same basic shape despite some size differences; limited, as the markings were confined to a specific area, even though there was room for more; and organized, as the cut marks were placed in a systematic way, even though their spacing varies slightly."
Decoding the Marks
Experimental incisions on fresh cattle bones, mimicking Neanderthal techniques, shed light on the bone's intricate carvings. The consistent comma-like endings, characteristic of right-handed movements, suggest a deliberate, possibly symbolic, endeavor by a Neanderthal artist. Plonka explains,
"Most of the incisions have a very characteristic comma-like end that curves to the right. When our experimenter, who was a right-handed person, moved the flint instrument towards himself, the incisions curved to the right. Therefore, we know that the Neanderthal who made these incisions was a right-handed person."
Symbolic Culture of Neanderthals
The bear bone joins a growing collection of Neanderthal artifacts with parallel incisions, hinting at a shared symbolic culture. Paul Pettitt, an archaeology professor, lauds the study, who was not involved with the study, affirming that these markings represent intentional cultural practices, not mere random etchings,
"That such series of parallel incisions really appear with the Neanderthals and not before, suggests that they were a cultural practice that had meaning and function, and not, say, the product of unconscious personal habits like modern doodling.”
A Glimpse into Neanderthal Minds
While the exact meaning of these markings remains elusive, the Dziadowa Skala Cave bone underscores Neanderthals' capacity for visual expression and information encoding. This revelation challenges traditional narratives, portraying Neanderthals as sophisticated beings with rich symbolic cultures.
Płonka, T., Wiśniewski, A., Marciszak, A., Ziółkowski, G., Lipecki, G., Diakowski, M., & Serwatka, K. (2024). A Middle Palaeolithic incised bear bone from the Dziadowa Skała Cave, Poland: the oldest marked object north of the Carpathian Mountains. Journal of Archaeological Science, 166(105971), 105971. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2024.105971