Archaeologists working in Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar have found what they believe is the first known example of Neanderthal rock art.
Neanderthal engraving from Gorham’s Cave, Gibraltar. Image credit: Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal et al.
Discovered in 1907, Gorham’s Cave is a natural sea cave located on the southeastern face of the Rock of Gibraltar. It is the last known place of Neanderthal occupation in the world.
Of the total 18 meters of archaeological deposits in the cave, the top 2 meters include Phoenician-Carthaginian (800-300 BC) and Neolithic occupations.
The remaining 16 meters include Solutrean and Magdalenian deposits and a level of Mousterian stone tools, representing a Neanderthal occupation between 38,000-30,000 years ago. Beneath is a layer of a much earlier occupation dating to 47,000 years ago.
An unnatural-looking series of lines carved into the bedrock of the cave was discovered by a team of archaeologists led by Prof Clive Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum in July 2012.
Analysis of the engraving. Image credit: Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal et al.
According to a new analysis carried out by the team and reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the abstract engraving covers an area of 15 by 20 cm and consists of eight deep lines forming an incomplete criss-cross pattern, obliquely intersected by two groups of short, thin lines.
Prof Finlayson and his colleagues ruled out the possibility that the engraving was from cutting meat or animal skins.
“The engraved pattern differs strikingly from deep alteration cracks and other networks of natural fissures present on the exposed surfaces of the fine-grained lime-dolostone of the cave,” they said.
“Experimental replication shows that the most of the lines were made by repeatedly and carefully passing a pointed lithic tool into the grooves, excluding the possibility of an unintentional or utilitarian origin.”
A layer of sediment that once covered the engraving contained Mousterian artifacts. This means that it must be at least 39,000 years old.
“This engraving represents a deliberate design conceived to be seen by its Neanderthal maker and, considering its size and location, by others in the cave as well,” the scientists concluded.
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Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal et al. 2014. A rock engraving made by Neanderthals in Gibraltar. PNAS, vol. 111, no. 37; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1411529111
