Most known prehistoric art is linked to Homo sapiens, which is why for a long time archaeologists have believed that modern humans were the first species to create art, employing symbols and images to express ideas and emotions. However, a surprising discovery from a cave in central Spain could change that story entirely.

Researchers studied an ancient granite pebble naturally shaped like a face, marked with a red ochre fingerprint. It happens to be the oldest complete human fingerprint ever found. 

In their new study, the researchers suggest that the fingerprint was left by a Neanderthal 43,000 years ago, who deliberately placed it at the spot where the natural shape of the stone suggests a nose would be. 

This makes it the oldest known example of “portable art” in Europe, and the first direct proof that Neanderthals were capable of abstract thought and symbolic behavior.

“We use the term ‘portable art’ here in the broad archaeological sense, referring to deliberately modified or marked objects with possible symbolic significance, rather than implying figurative representation or aesthetic intention,” the study authors note.

The ability to give meaning to the meaningless

In 2022, a team of archaeologists excavating the San Lázaro rock shelter in central Spain unearthed an unusually large and smooth pebble buried beneath five feet of ancient sediments. Unlike other stones found at the site, this granite rock, about 20 centimeters long, didn’t appear to be a tool. 

What stood out was a single red dot on its surface, and the uncanny way the stone resembled an elongated face. The team suspected there was more to this pebble than met the eye. They proposed a theory: the red mark had been placed purposefully, right where a nose would appear on a human-like face. 

“The stone was oddly shaped and had a red ochre dot, which really caught our eye. We were all thinking the same thing and looking at each other because of its shape: we were all thinking, ‘This looks like a face,” David Álvarez Alonso, one of the study authors, and an archaeologist at Complutense University in Madrid, said.

When the human brain sees familiar shapes, like faces, in inanimate objects, this phenomenon is called pareidolia. Sometimes, this phenomenon forms the basis for abstract or symbolic forms of art. For instance, when someone recognizes a face in an object and then enhances or completes it by adding a dot or a line — like what the Neanderthal did by adding a red dot where a nose would be — this is an example of expressing abstract things using art.

However, this was just a hypothesis, and the researchers needed scientific evidence to confirm whether the Neanderthals really recognized a face in the stone.

The stone with the red dot looked like a face, “But obviously that wasn’t enough. As we carried on our research, we knew we needed information to be able to advance the hypothesis that there was some purposefulness here,” Álvarez Alonso added.

A tiny dot with a big message

To confirm their theory, the researchers launched a detailed investigation. They already knew the pebble was brought inside the cave from a river, but what about the material the dot was made of? 

They analyzed the red pigment in the fingerprint, which turned out to be a mix of iron oxides and clay minerals, materials not naturally found at the site or nearby. That meant the pigment was also brought there on purpose. However, more interesting evidence emerged when the study authors contacted forensic experts from the local police department. 

Using advanced multispectral imaging techniques, the forensics team confirmed that the red mark was made by a human fingertip. Even more surprisingly, the ridge patterns showed it was a complete, identifiable fingerprint, likely of an adult Neanderthal male. Also, there were no tool marks or wear on the pebble, and no signs that it had been used for practical purposes. 

“Additionally, why there is only one fingerprint in a central position of the surface of the pebble, and there are no more fingerprints,” the study authors said.

With all the evidence: its origin, shape, the red pigment, the fingerprint, and the absence of utility,  the researchers proposed that this pebble was a symbolic object, perhaps even a work of art, made by a Neanderthal. 

“This pebble could thus represent one of the oldest known abstractions of a human face in the prehistoric record, according to the hypothesis of Face Pareidolia,” they added.

This finding shakes the belief that symbolic thinking and artistic expression are only modern human traits. The pebble offers rare physical evidence that Neanderthals could also create meaning from the world around them. It suggests they were capable of seeing patterns, imagining faces, and choosing to leave a personal mark like a fingerprint on something that resonated with them.

The study is published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.