It was assumed that modern humans were the first to create art because they are the only species able to have the mental capacity to do so. But, recently in Spain, archaeologists found three caves containing small drawings that predate modern humans by at least 20,000 years, meaning the only species able to do this were Neanderthals. This finding could change what has always been assumed about what Neanderthals were.

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The markings found in the cave were geometrical and line based, made with Red ocher. This differs from the usual animal or human-like drawings made with charcoal that modern humans created. Archeologist Alistair Pike from University of Southampton explained that usually they would use a technique called radiocarbon dating for drawings made with charcoal, but this does not work with Red ocher. Instead, they are focusing on the flowstones that have built up over the paintings, formed by water percolating through the cave rock, precipitating calcite or not. If it did precipitate calcite over the drawing, it means the drawing must be older than the calcite, and by this they can roughly date back the drawing.

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Until these drawings it was believed that Neanderthals were uncapable of creative expression. When there was a brief period of about 5,000 years that Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted, scientists believed that they copied the modern humans when drawing, and could not come up with their own ideas. The new drawings reveal a very different drawing style and shows that the Neanderthals believed that animals were not their top priority of drawing and these lines, geometric shapes, and patterns of dots meant more for them to draw. The animal like objects in the drawings were believed to be added by modern humans at a later date. Although archeologists have yet to decipher their meanings behind the artwork, these newly found drawings that predate modern humans gives the science world a shock from what was always believed about Neanderthals mental abilities.

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Professor Chris Stringer, a researcher from London’s National History Museum, explained to the BBC that the latest findings “seem to remove any doubt” regarding whether Neanderthals were even capable of creative expression. “They further narrow any perceived behavioral gap between the Neanderthals and us,” he said. “The discovery that they did not, in fact, need the help of modern humans (for creative expression) puts Neanderthals and humans on a more level playing field… given that tens of thousands of years ago, modern humans weren’t all that sophisticated either.”

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This behavioral gap could mean an unlimited number of things including whether they had their own language and whether they had a small belief system and or religion. To know this, we must further investigate deeper into these caves and find more drawings and clues on what they were capable of. As of now, these are the world’s oldest known pieces of artwork.