Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

Neanderthal artists made oldest-known cave paintings

Designs at three Spanish sites are thought to predate human arrival in Europe by at least 20,000 years.
  1. Emma Marris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Neanderthals painted caves in what is now Spain before their cousins, Homo sapiens, even arrived in Europe, according to research published today in Science1. The finding suggests that the extinct hominids, once assumed to be intellectually inferior to humans, may have been artists with complex beliefs.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-02357-8

References

  1. Hoffmann, D. L. et al. Science 359, 912–915 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Aubert, M. et al. Nature 514, 223–227 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Pike, A. W. G. et al. Science 336, 1409–1413 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links