Scientists figured out which human ancestor made the first cave paintings — and it challenges one way we thought humans were unique
- Long before early modern humans arrived in Europe, Neanderthals were painting in caves, leaving behind animal shapes and hand-prints.
- They may also have been decorating shells before Homo sapiens did.
- This indicates that the stereotype of the brutish Neanderthal is wrong — they were cognitively closer to us than many think.
We often think of art and culture as exclusively the domain of humans — specifically our particular species, Homo sapiens.
But the more we learn about other early hominin species, the more it seems that idea may be wrong.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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