Research team finds evidence of red ochre use by Neanderthals 200,000 years ago
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - 12:02
in Paleontology & Archaeology
(PhysOrg.com) -- Until recently, archeologists have thought of Neanderthals, an early relative of humans, as thick, slow thinking and likely uncreative. Now, new evidence dispels part of that image. Archeologists digging in the Netherlands have unearthed flint and bone fragments from 200,000 years ago that have remnants of red ochre on them, indicating that Neanderthals were using the material much earlier than was previously thought. The research team has published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.