麻豆淫院

In the depths of the San L谩zaro rock-shelter in Segovia, Central Spain, archaeologists from the Complutense University of Madrid and collaborators have uncovered a compelling trace of Neanderthal symbolic cognition: a pigment-marked granite stone bearing a human fingerprint, and the deliberate placement of red ocher in relation to three mostly natural indentations, creating the potential image of a human face.

Neanderthal symbolic behavior has been one of prehistory's more contentious topics. Much of the debate presumed symbolism to be exclusive to Homo sapiens. The capacity to convey meaning through marks, symbols, and images has often been considered a key distinction that separated modern humans cognitively from our ancient evolutionary cousins.

A growing number of symbolic artifacts and cave paintings, including those in Spain's Maltravieso and La Pasiega Caves, once thought to be early modern human works, are now attributed to Neanderthals.

In the study, "More than a fingerprint on a pebble: A pigment鈥憁arked object from San L谩zaro rock鈥憇helter in the context of Neanderthal symbolic behavior," in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, researchers designed a multi-method investigation to determine whether a granite pebble found in Mousterian layer H had been intentionally marked with ocher.

Excavated during the 2022 season from an undisturbed Mousterian stratum dated to approximately 43,000 years before present, the granite river rock measures 21.4 脳 11.3 脳 7.6 cm and was unlike the smaller hammerstones found in the same context. It was out of place from a geological context of a lone river rock in a cave, and then, to make it even more of an outlier, it was painted with a single conspicuous red dot of ocher.

It features three indentations, two small and symmetrical, one larger and irregular, framing a central red dot. The placement of the dot in relation to the indentations gives the impression of a symbolic face. It's a bit of a squinter, not a well-executed carving or engraving, and unlikely to set off a pareidolia facial recognition at first glance.

But there was enough evidence of intention that the researchers had to pay close attention to details that otherwise might have been missed.

First, the red ocher dot placed central to the surface of the stone was not a natural occurrence. What little Neanderthal cave art is known to science was often painted with precisely this pigment, and frequently included assemblages of dots.

Next, the stone itself was unusual. Researchers concluded that the artifact was not used for toolmaking, no wear marks or abrasions were present, and its size and morphology deviated from all known utilitarian stones from the same level. While some of the features of the indentations look natural, some show signs of subtle manipulation.

It is composed of quartz-rich granite, geologically uncommon in the immediate area of the site but naturally present in upstream sections of the Eresma River, about 5 km from the site. Area analysis ruled out a natural depositing of a single river rock, and so it must have been transported over the distance in the hand of a Neanderthal.

And finally, when looked at from the perspective of it being an intentional object with no utilitarian function and both physical and decorative manipulation, facial features can begin to emerge.

Much of this interpretation hinges on the assumption of intentionality. To determine whether the ocher mark was natural, accidental, or symbolic, the team used a range of analytical tools.

A 3D laser scan documented by microtopography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) identified the ocher as iron oxide applied without any binding agent, and multispectral imaging revealed a dermatoglyphic pattern in the pigment later confirmed by forensic analysts鈥攁 human fingerprint, complete with ridge morphology, bifurcations, and convergence points.

Statistical modeling ruled out random placement. Monte Carlo simulations gave just a 0.31% chance that the red dot's equidistant relationship to the two symmetrical indentations had occurred by chance. The red dot, therefore, seems intentionally placed on a carefully selected surface, potentially to evoke a specific image.

Whether future discoveries confirm this interpretation, the San L谩zaro pebble now stands among a select group of Neanderthal artifacts: painted cave walls, engraved bones, and modified talons, that have forced a cognitive reevaluation of what it meant to be human in a world without Homo sapiens.

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