Could Neanderthals have had "ART"?

Question

There's been a lot of speculation lately that Sapiens capacity for imagination was one of the major mental and cultural differences betwen us and the neanderthals. These arguments are mostly based on cave art and rock engravings however ... I wonder if neanderthal "art" might have been expressed in soft materials that did not survive?

What if their "art" was put into making fibers? Yes no needles or textile stools have been found but if the neanderthals were used animal and plant fibers like fur feathers and grass etc and BROKE and BURNT the tool and aritfacts when the owner / maker DIED that would certainly explain why we have neanderthal burials with no jewellery or tools etc in them?

Should scientists be taking a closer look at the contents of neanderthal rubbish ... ie ashes from camp fires?

Maybe neanderthals didnt "sew" but perhaps they wove plant fibers into capes and leggings and boots to survive the northern winters?

anyone wonder about this?

Answer 1

The only recognizable art found in relation to the Neandertals appears to have been obtain from EMHs (early modern humans)

Throughout their history Neandertals seem static "Their tools, evolved little during their 100,000 year history, and they did not use bone, antler or ivory. They used wood, such a spears, and regularly used fire. Why they did not make tools from their prey is unexplained. At the end of their existence their tools became more complex, possibly through copying modern humans, trade, or as a direct response to this new competitor, but the change was too late."

http://www.ecotao.com/holism/hu_neand.ht...

Such a situation suggests their art, if there was any, would have also remained the same.

All material removed from a archaeological site is screened through 1/8 inch hardware cloth. Any fiber is carefully collected and conserved.

While there's suggestion that Neandertals buried their dead, grave goods aren't found as in more modern burials. That wouldn't support breaking art at death

Answer 2

First, don't assume that the Neanderthals were failures.  They lived around 200,000 years and we around 150,000. They may still outlast us total years.

Now, no one is going to like this but the difference was how their society was organized.  They were into the hunt. That was their big deal and they all hunted men, women, and children. That means they had some mean mamas for women. Now, mean mamas are not the best at decorating, I think you will agree. Now, our women were different either they had control of society and commanded that men do the hunting or wimped out and cried their way out of it that is to be debated. Anyway, they had more a sense to be the ancestors of Martha Stewart.

Lastly, yes to the plant idea because plants have been in fashion for a long, long time...cotton is a plant, you know and silk, well that is a bug product.

Answer 3

There are some peices of red ochre, yellow ochre and black manganese ground into pointed pencil  shapes from Neanderthal sites, and they've found what looks an awful lot like a flute. They also mined flint from proper shafted mines, and had some form of medicine, as people with nasty healed injuries have been found.

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpre...

http://averyremoteperiodindeed.blogspot....

The general feeling now is that they probably didn't think or behave any differently than us, except our IQ's are  higher on average.

Answer 4

There is little doubt that this low technology culture could and did produce art. We often look at a worked piece and not being able to decide what it was for say it was used for spiritual purposes. This is how I see the art of hominids before Homo Sapien Sapien came along. We may not have the sense to see it as such but art is there. Their average brain weight/ size was 200 cc more than our present sculls hold. So they had the  real material that makes "ART"