A groundbreaking discovery in central Spain has revealed what scientists believe to be the world’s oldest complete human fingerprint, potentially left by a Neanderthal around 43,000 years ago. Found on a quartz-rich granite pebble at the San Lázaro rock shelter near Segovia, the fingerprint is pressed into red pigment at a spot on the stone that resembles the nose of a human face. Researchers suggest this could represent the oldest example of Neanderthal art and portable art in Europe.
The stone, measuring just over 20 centimeters, stood out immediately to archaeologists due to its peculiar shape and a single red ochre dot. David Álvarez Alonso, an archaeologist at Complutense University of Madrid, led the team that suspected the object had symbolic value. “We were all struck by its shape and the placement of the red mark,” he said. The team theorized that the stone may have been intentionally altered to highlight a facial pareidolia, the human tendency to perceive faces in inanimate objects.
To validate their hypothesis, the researchers worked with geologists and police forensic experts. They determined that the pigment used was not naturally occurring in the area and confirmed that the red dot was deliberately applied using a human fingertip, likely that of an adult male. These findings strongly suggest a purposeful act rather than an accidental marking, reinforcing the evidence of Neanderthal art.
Evidence of Neanderthal Art and Symbolism Emerges
This discovery significantly bolsters the argument that Neanderthals possessed symbolic and artistic abilities similar to early Homo sapiens. The red pigment was found nowhere else in or around the cave, implying it was brought in intentionally. The object itself also appears to have been transported from a riverbed, suggesting that the individual who found it saw something special in its form.
“Without that red dot, you can’t make any claims about the object,” Álvarez Alonso explained. “But its deliberate placement where a nose might be on a face-like stone implies intentionality and possibly symbolic thought.” According to the study published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, this act reflects complex cognitive behavior, including imagination, communication, and the attribution of meaning, all essential elements of Neanderthal art and artistic creation.
Researchers propose that the pebble could be among the earliest known attempts to abstractly depict a human face. This challenges the long-standing view that symbolic expression and art were exclusive to Homo sapiens and not part of Neanderthal behavior.
A New Perspective on Neanderthal Intelligence
The discovery is expected to spark renewed debate about the intellectual and creative capabilities of Neanderthals, who disappeared roughly 40,000 years ago. For decades, they were considered cognitively inferior to modern humans, but recent archaeological evidence has increasingly disputed that notion.
“If this same object had been found from a more recent Homo sapiens context, no one would question its artistic value,” said Álvarez Alonso. “But because it’s associated with Neanderthals, there’s hesitation.” He and his team believe the most plausible explanation is that the Neanderthal who discovered the pebble recognized its human-like shape and deliberately marked it with red ochre, an intentional act of Neanderthal art.
“This object forces us to rethink what it means to be human and to create art,” Álvarez Alonso concluded. “They were human, too, and perhaps they saw the world in much the same way we do.”
