A unique archaeological find has recently expanded our knowledge of Neanderthals’ capacity for symbolic thought. The object in question is a granite stone, on which a red ocher dot was deliberately applied to reinforce the image of a human face. It is, to date, the oldest example of portable art associated with Neanderthals.
The most remarkable aspect of this discovery was the identification of a fingerprint in the pigment, at a level we have unequivocally dated to more than 42,000 years ago.
The fingerprint means the find is direct evidence of a symbolic action that we can attribute to a Neanderthal human (Homo neanderthalensis).
This discovery is the fruit of over two years of research, and was published in May 2025 in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. In addition to the team of archaeologists and geologists, our paper was co-authored by members of the Central Identification Unit of the General Commissary of Scientific Police, whose contributions were vital to the work’s success.
The last Neanderthal
The red-spotted stone was found at the Abrigo de San Lázaro archaeological site — in the Eresma river valley, downstream from the Spanish city of Segovia — where we found remains of occupations of the last European Neanderthals.
The stone was in a level where we have previously found Mousterian (Middle Paleolithic) industry. These are stone tools clearly associated with Neanderthal occupations, such as those documented in the known areas of Abrigo del Molino and other nearby sites.
A red spot for a nose
In our study, we hypothesize that the object was chosen and collected from the riverbed because of its peculiar natural features. Put simply, it looks like a human face.
Facial pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon whereby we perceive faces in inanimate objects, identifies the upper and lower indentations as eyes and a mouth in the stone. The application of red pigment to make a nose reinforces the perception of a face, and acts as a symbolically charged visual marker.
The possibility that we are dealing with a symbolic representation of a human face adds a particularly significant interpretative dimension to the archaeological find.
Forensic police identify the fingerprint
One of the most remarkable aspects of this research was its cross-disciplinary collaboration between archaeologists, geoarchaeologists, and members of the General Commissary of the Spanish Scientific Police.
To reach our conclusions, a combination of techniques was applied to the object. First, we performed detailed 3D mapping using high-precision scanners and digital models, which helped to rule out that the stone had served any functional purpose, such as that of an anvil or hammer.
We then carried out non-invasive analyses, such as X-ray fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy. The results confirmed that the red pigment was externally applied ocher, as opposed to a natural mark resulting from the decomposition of minerals in the granite itself.
But the most surprising breakthrough came from multispectral analysis. This is a well-known technique that the Spanish General Commissary of Scientific Police developed and adapted specifically for the study of the stone. By using this method, Samuel Miralles Mosquera, a forensic imaging expert, revealed a fingerprint that was invisible to the naked eye, which had been printed directly into the pigment.
The image was later analyzed by Mª Carmen Sastre Barrio, Encarnación Nieva Gómez, Mª Remedios Díaz Delgado, and Elena Ruiz Mediavilla, identification specialists of the same team. They confirmed that it matched the fingerprint of an adult human male.
Their work allowed for the identification of the fingerprint with a previously unprecedented level of detail in the context of Paleolithic studies.
Their help made the research a pioneering reference in the field of applying archaeology and forensic identification to prehistoric times. It provides a new window on the symbolic world of the Neanderthals, and opens new avenues for the study of their artistic expression, their visual sensitivity, and their capacity for abstraction.
Combining these scientific techniques reinforces the authenticity of the find, and underlines its exceptional nature. It is one of the most complete physical testimonies of a symbolic act performed by a Neanderthal, whose fingerprint was deliberately left in the pigment.
Who would have imagined that, more than 40,000 years later, not even Neanderthals could escape being identified by forensic scientists.
A groundbreaking discovery
The origin of humans’ symbolic behavior — and with it the emergence of art itself — is one of the most hotly debated questions in research on humankind’s cognitive evolution. While both phenomena did not emerge simultaneously, they are deeply interconnected, since the capacity for symbolic thought is ultimately the foundation of all forms of artistic expression.
For decades, it was claimed that this ability was exclusive to “modern” or present-day human beings (Homo sapiens). However, the development of new methodologies and the discovery of increasingly solid evidence have challenged this view to the point of refuting it.
There is now a growing consensus that Neanderthals also possessed a complex symbolic repertoire, manifested through modified objects, use of pigments, ritual behaviors, and other unambiguously symbolic expressions.
One of the key milestones in this shift in opinion was the publication — in the journal Science in 2018 — of the dating of several cave paintings found in three Spanish caves: Ardales, La Pasiega, and Maltravieso. These were the first paintings with a symbolic character attributed to Neanderthals.
They included simple, geometric shapes, including discernible patterns. Their study revealed the ability of this human group to deliberately generate symbolic images charged with shared meaning. While the representations are simple, they appear repeatedly in different places on the walls of the caves.
To this list of findings, we can now add the work of another anonymous Neanderthal. This male, one of Europe’s last Neanderthal inhabitants, saw a face on a rock collected from the river, intentionally painted a red dot with ocher, and left his mark on history.
David Álvarez Alonso, Profesor Titular de Prehistoria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; Andrés Díez Herrero, Profesor de Investigación (Dr. Ciencias Geológicas), Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME — CSIC); María de Andrés-Herrero, Departamento de Prehistoria, Historia Antigua y Arqueología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and Miguel Angel Mate Gonzalez, Personal Docente e Investigador — Contratado Ramón y Cajal , Universidad de Salamanca
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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