Humans have used color to express creativity and cultural meaning for thousands of years. The use of colored materials, such as ocher, has long been considered a key indicator of the symbolic behavior of human ancestors. And it turns out that humans may not have been the only ones to exhibit this behavior: Neanderthals also understood the power of color.
A new study in Scientific advances provides compelling support for the use of ocher by Neanderthals at Middle Paleolithic Micoquian sites in Crimea and mainland Ukraine. Analysis of 16 ocher pieces from these sites – spanning 70,000 years – revealed that several pieces had intentional modifications that indicate more than just utilitarian use.
Learn more: A Neanderthal fingerprint indicates art, and possibly portraiture, around 43,000 years ago
Analyzing Neanderthal pencils
The 16 ocher pieces analyzed showed intentional modifications by Neanderthals. These modifications include grinding, scraping, scoring and chipping. Although some ocher pieces may have been used for practical tasks such as processing hides, the deliberate shape of the pencil-like tools suggests that Neanderthals were making sophisticated choices in the process of designing and executing the pieces.
Three of the ocher pieces particularly caught the attention of researchers. One piece was shaped like a pencil and indicated repeated resharpening, with the second appearing to be a piece of another pencil-like tool. The third was unique as it featured etched and polished surfaces alongside its pencil appearance.
This analysis indicates that some Crimean Neanderthals selected pieces of ocher with coloring properties, methodically processed them, and then used them in ways that went beyond simple utility.
How color can teach us about culture
In recent decades, the use of ocher has become central to the study of symbolic culture. Archaeologists have discovered that a society’s use of color can influence its language, rituals, body modifications, and other practices that can tell us a lot about that society’s cultural identity.
In this study, the sequence of technical actions necessary for this Neanderthal society to create these pencil-like parts reveals intentional design.
“The deliberate shaping and reuse of colored pencils, engraved designs, and evidence of preserved tools collectively support the conclusion that at least some ocher materials were involved in symbolic activities,” the study authors said.
These findings prove that the Neanderthals living at these Micoquian sites were cognitively and culturally complex – a complexity usually reserved for ancient human relatives. The selective processing and long-term use of coloring materials by Crimean Neanderthals shows that they were actively making choices that reflect meaning, identity, and communication.
Pencils and Neanderthal complexity
This discovery significantly extends the evidence for symbolic material culture beyond A wise man. The research team notes that, in human history, “rather than being a sudden change, the use of ocher by human cultures has been the result of a slow evolution, with ancient roots, involving different fossil human species.”
The use of ocher seems to have developed in a similar way among Neanderthals. Because the process of collecting, creating, and using ocher pencils has remained constant for 70,000 years, this practice suggests a type of cultural continuity rarely observed outside of human evolution.
Based on this finding, the researchers conclude that color-related symbolic behavior was not strictly reserved for humans alone. Instead, these Crimean pencils present a more colorful view of Neanderthals and their culture.
Learn more: Neanderthals may have used glue to get out of sticky situations
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