57,000-Year-Old Carvings on Limestone Found Deep Inside a Cave Are Oldest Known Neanderthal Prints

In 2024, researchers announced their discovery of some intriguing markings in France. These markings proved to be valuable when their legacy was uncovered by experts, stated Art News. They were inside an ancient La Roche-Cotard cave in the Loire Valley. Findings regarding these prints were published in PLOS One.

The cave's entrance was uncovered due to quarrying work in 1846. Some decades later, animal bones and Neanderthal stone tools were found by archaeologists inside the cave. More extensive diggings were done in the 1970s, and later on picked up again in 2008. These markings were made in the longest and most even wall of the cave. Researchers claimed that these prints were made by Neanderthals at least 57,000 years ago. Experts observed that these markings comprised several faint striations, dots, and wavy lines. Such patterns are called finger flutings. 

To examine these markings, researchers made a 3D model of the patterns and compared them with other wall markings of all types. The results indicated that the engravings were made by human hands. During the process, researchers also spotted carvings made by claws of animals, like cave bears, and through metal during modern incursions into the cave.

Scientists examined the sediments used to block the entrance. The results indicated that the cave was closed 57,000 years ago. This was thousands of years before humans arrived in the area. This made experts confident about the assertion, that the finger flutings were made by Neanderthals.  Researchers further postulated that the patterns were made by Neanderthals while sweeping and pressing their fingers on the limestone walls. The height of the engravings implied that they were created by either teenagers or adults. Experts asserted that these are the oldest known Neanderthal markings to have ever been analyzed by scientists. 

Researchers believe these markings are proof that Neanderthals possessed more intellect than previously believed. "For a long time it was thought that Neanderthals were incapable of thinking other than to ensure their subsistence," said archaeologist and study co-author Jean-Claude Marquet, of the University of Tours, France, stated Smithsonian Magazine. "I think this discovery should lead prehistorians who have doubts about Neanderthal skills to reconsider."

Researchers further observed that the markings had been separated into eight different panels. They claimed that the panels were created with a lot of thought. Experts believed the Neanderthals were working on soft chalk walls, a material known as tuffeau to create these patterns. "When the tip of a finger comes into contact with this film, a trace is left in the shape of an impact; when the tip of the finger moves, an elongated digital trace is left," Marquet further explained. To confirm their suspicion researchers created engravings on a similar kind of wall using bone, wood, antler, and stone tools. The outcome was quite similar. 

Experts are yet to figure out the meaning of these drawings. Co-author Eric Robert, an archaeologist at the National Museum of Natural History believes this is because they were made for a different community. "These images are not for us, and we do not have the keys to understanding their meaning, their possibly diverse and multiple functions," he said.