Not such boneheads! The Neanderthals invented painting 64,000 years ago

THEY have long been considered our dimwitted cousins, who became extinct as modern humans thrived.

But far from being feeble-brained knuckledraggers, Neanderthals were the world’s first artists, researchers have discovered.

Vivid cave paintings of swirling dots, ladders and animals have been discovered to be their handiwork. The scarlet and black sketches, found in Spain, had been attributed to our modern ancestors.

But, using the latest techniques, they have been dated to 64,000 years ago – 20,000 years before early Homo sapiens made it to Europe. The paintings were found deep inside three caverns 434 miles apart: Maltravieso in central Spain, La Pasiega in the north and Ardales in the south.

Professor Alistair Pike of the University of Southampton, co-author of the research published in Science, said: ‘Ever since Neanderthal fossils were found in the 19th century, they have had a bad press … portrayed as incapable of symbolic thought.

‘What we have found here is evidence of Neanderthal painting. Not just smearing something on the wall, but painting something on the wall which represents something.’ Joint lead researcher Dr Chris Standish said: ‘The paintings we dated are, by far, the oldest known cave art in the world and were created at least 20,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe from Africa.’

Co-author Professor Paul Pettitt, of the University of Durham, said other cave art may now be found to be by Neanderthals rather than Homo sapiens.

At another cave, in south-east Spain, scientists found even older evidence of Neanderthal decorative art – seashells stained red and with holes drilled for use as pendants. They date back 115,000 years.