title: Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals.
abstract: Two sites of the Neandertal-associated Middle Paleolithic of Iberia, dated to as early as approximately 50,000 years ago, yielded perforated and pigment-stained marine shells. At Cueva de los Aviones, three umbo-perforated valves of Acanthocardia and Glycymeris were found alongside lumps of yellow and red colorants, and residues preserved inside a Spondylus shell consist of a red lepidocrocite base mixed with ground, dark red-to-black fragments of hematite and pyrite. A perforated Pecten shell, painted on its external, white side with an orange mix of goethite and hematite, was abandoned after breakage at Cueva Antón, 60 km inland. Comparable early modern human-associated material from Africa and the Near East is widely accepted as evidence for body ornamentation, implying behavioral modernity. The Iberian finds show that European Neandertals were no different from coeval Africans in this regard, countering genetic/cognitive explanations for the emergence of symbolism and strengthening demographic/social ones.
authors.affiliation: University of Bristol, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bristol BS8 1UU, United Kingdom. Joao.Zilhao@bristol.ac.uk
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zilhão
authors.forename: Diego E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Angelucci
authors.forename: Ernestina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Badal-García
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: d'Errico
authors.forename: Floréal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dayet
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Douka
authors.forename: Thomas F G
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Higham
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Martínez-Sánchez
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Montes-Bernárdez
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murcia-Mascarós
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pérez-Sirvent
authors.forename: Clodoaldo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roldán-García
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vanhaeren
authors.forename: Valentín
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Villaverde
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Josefina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zapata
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000883:Anthropology; D004396:Coloring Agents; D008903:Minerals; D008974:Mollusca; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D008903:Minerals