A gallery of ancient cave markings in France—likely created around 75,000 years ago—appears to be the work of Neanderthals. A team studying the La Roche-Cotard engravings says it’s the clearest evidence yet of Neanderthal cave art. The marks suggest our closest relatives were capable of creativity and self-expression.
The appearance of the cave chamber containing fingerprints.
By dating the sediment at the cave entrance, archaeologist Jean-Claude Marquet of the University of Tours and his colleagues found the drawings date to roughly 51,000–57,000 years ago.
It wasn’t until researchers found the cave entrance in the early 20th century that anyone could enter and document its ancient marks. The findings show that Homo sapiens could not have made the engravings: modern humans didn’t reach Western Europe until about 45,000 years ago. Marquet and his colleagues say that, fifteen years after excavations at La Roche-Cotard resumed, they confirmed the drawings are more than 57,000 years old. Stratigraphic evidence suggests they may be even older—around 75,000 years. If so, the site would be the oldest location with wall images in France, and possibly in all of Europe.
Recent discoveries in Lebanon suggest Homo sapiens left Africa and reached farther into Eurasia earlier than previously thought. Although modern humans could theoretically have reached the area of the cave, researchers think those early migrations mostly skipped what is now France—possibly because Neanderthals already occupied the region and may have limited modern human movement.
On the cave wall, you can see round patterns, likely made by fingers.
Artifacts from La Roche-Cotard and nearby sites show Neanderthals occupied the Loire River banks between about 100,000 and 65,000 years ago. The finger marks on some walls from this 35,000-year span don’t depict recognizable figures like animals or plants. In fact, no known hominid — including Homo sapiens — produced representational art at that time. The oldest recognized figurative drawings by Homo sapiens or any hominid come from an Indonesian island and date to roughly 45,000 years ago.
Pinpointing the origins of abstract art—patterns like parallel lines or circles—is tricky and depends on which marks researchers classify as “art.” Alongside some random scratches likely made by animals, excavators at La Roche-Cotard cataloged dozens of “elongated or dotted, spatially organized signs” that appear to be hominid in origin.
The claw marks on some walls are thinner, deeper, and V-shaped, unlike the smaller U-shaped marks that match the shape of a fingertip or a similarly shaped tool. Marquet and his team argue the maker of the marks scratched into the soft upper layer of porous rock, producing smooth, regular grooves. Thousands of years of weathering have eroded the marks, but they were once clear.
Some panels consist of circular strokes, others show triangular marks, and one particularly striking panel is made of numerous fingertip dots. Analyzing the whole “gallery,” Marquet and colleagues conclude these works are more graphic than functional. They appear to form organized, deliberate compositions that reflect conscious design and intent.
Triangular pattern of fingerprints on the cave wall
We can’t say for sure whether the marks held any symbolic meaning. But evidence is mounting that Neanderthals were more creative than traditionally assumed. For example, the controversial “Mask of La Roche-Cotard,” found near the cave and dated to about 75,000 years ago, resembles a face with eye-like features carved on a flat flint slab. But given our tendency to see faces in random patterns, that interpretation might be mistaken.
La Roche-Posay Mask
Taken together, these findings make it harder to argue that Neanderthals lacked artistic ability. There is evidence they mixed red ochre as early as 250,000 years ago, and Homo erectus engraved abstract patterns on shells about 500,000 years ago on the island of Java.
Whether these marks count as “art” is still debated; in archaeology, as in art, perspective matters. The study was published in PLOS ONE.
