Were Neanderthals the First Collectors? First Evidence Recovered in Level 4 of the Prado Vargas Cave, Cornejo, Burgos and Spain

  1. Navazo Ruiz, Marta 2
  2. Benito-Calvo, Alfonso 3
  3. Lozano-Francisco, María Carmen 1
  4. Alonso Alcalde, Rodrigo 24
  5. Alonso García, Pedro 2
  6. de la Fuente Juez, Héctor 2
  7. Santamaría Diez, Marta 2
  8. Cristóbal Cubillo, Paula 2
  1. 1 Universidad de Málaga
    info

    Universidad de Málaga

    Málaga, España

    ROR https://ror.org/036b2ww28

  2. 2 Universidad de Burgos
    info

    Universidad de Burgos

    Burgos, España

    ROR https://ror.org/049da5t36

  3. 3 Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana
    info

    Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana

    Burgos, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01nse6g27

  4. 4 Área de Didáctica y Dinamización, Museo de la Evolución Humana, P° Sierra de Atapuerca n°2, 09002 Burgos, Spain
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CRediT (researchers' contribution):
Navazo Ruiz, Marta: Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing review editing. Benito-Calvo, Alfonso: Investigation, Writing original draft. Lozano-Francisco, María Carmen: Formal analysis. Alonso Alcalde, Rodrigo: Investigation, Resources. Alonso García, Pedro: Visualization. de la Fuente Juez, Héctor: Resources. Santamaría Diez, Marta: DataCuration. Cristóbal Cubillo, Paula: Investigation.
Journal:
Quaternary

ISSN: 2571-550X

Year of publication: 2024

Volume: 7

Issue: 4

Pages: 49

Type: Article

DOI: 10.3390/QUAT7040049 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Quaternary

Abstract

Collecting is a form of leisure, and even a passion, consisting of collecting, preserving and displaying objects. When we look for its origin in the literature, we are taken back to “the appearance of writing and the fixing of knowledge”, specifically with the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (7th century BC, Mesopotamia), and his fondness for collecting books, which in his case were in the form of clay tablets. This is not, however, a true reflection, for we have evidence of much earlier collectors. The curiosity and interest in keeping stones or fossils of different colors and shapes, as manuports, is as old as we are. For decades we have had evidence of objects of no utilitarian value in Neanderthal homes. Several European sites have shown that these Neanderthal groups treasured objects that attracted their attention. On some occasions, these objects may have been modified to make a personal ornament and may even have been integrated into subsistence activities such as grinders or hammers. Normally, one or two such specimens are found but, to date, no Neanderthal cave or camp has yielded as many as the N4 level of Prado Vargas Cave. In the N4 Mousterian level of Prado Vargas, 15 specimens of Upper Cretaceous marine fossils belonging to the Gryphaeidae, Pectinidae, Cardiidae, Pholadomyidae, Pleurotomariidae, Tylostomatidae and Diplopodiidae families were found in the context of clay and autochthonous cave sediments. During MIS 3, a group of Neanderthals transported at least fifteen marine fossils, which were collected from various Cretaceous units located in the surrounding area, to the Prado Vargas cave. The fossils, with one exception, show no evidence of having been used as tools; thus, their presence in the cave could be attributed to collecting activities. These activities could have been motivated by numerous tangible and intangible causes, which suggest that collecting activities and the associated abstract thinking were present in Neanderthals before the arrival of modern humans.

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