40,800yr old Spanish cave paintings oldest in world

At more than 40,800 years old, this is currently Europe's oldest dated art by at least 4,000 years, said the study lead author Alistair Pike, an archaeologist at the University of Bristol in the U.K.





Video here
www.bbc.co.uk...

www.earthmagazine.org...

news.nationalgeographic.com...

Personally my self i don't see why they couldn't be modern mans works of art, most scientists believe that Neanderthals were far to brutish and animal like to have created such symbolic art, personally id have to agree, there always seems to be a "well it couldn't possibly be" when it comes to dating ancient human artefacts

Study co-author João Zilhão goes a step further, suggesting that, if Neanderthals were responsible for some of the Spanish cave art, then perhaps there's no real distinction between them and modern humans.

This kind of contradicts with this IMO

Our species, some scientists have argued, experienced a "Great Leap Forward," or "upper Paleolithic revolution," some 35,000 years ago. (See a prehistoric time line.) According to this idea, something—perhaps a genetic mutation or the development of language—triggered a technological and artistic explosion in Homo sapiens.

So we are were not? uhh?

I'm sure a few of you know all the theorys behind the "genetic mutation" and how mother nature miraculously spliced our DNA over night, its no wonder they're having a hard time putting puzzles together

reply to post by TritonTaranis

Why is it so far fetched that it could be made by neanderthals?? They had bigger brains than us and they made their own tools as well. Simple fact is that we have no idea how intelligent and creative they were.

Originally posted by juleol
reply to post by TritonTaranis

 

Why is it so far fetched that it could be made by neanderthals?? They had bigger brains than us and they made their own tools as well. Simple fact is that we have no idea how intelligent and creative they were.

That wasn't really what i was getting at, it could well be

The point i wanted to make was why is it so far fetched that it could in fact be modern man's? there is also so so much we do not know about our own early history,

Originally posted by TritonTaranis

Study co-author João Zilhão goes a step further, suggesting that, if Neanderthals were responsible for some of the Spanish cave art, then perhaps there's no real distinction between them and modern humans.

This kind of contradicts with this IMO

João Zilhão, if i'm not mistaken, is one of those scientists that think that Neanderthals mixed with modern humans, so this could support his idea.