Abstract
A scanty but varied ensemble of finds challenges the idea that Neandertal material culture was essentially static and did not include symbolic items. In this study we report on a fragmentary Miocene-Pliocene fossil marine shell, Aspa marginata , discovered in a Discoid Mousterian layer of the Fumane Cave, northern Italy, dated to at least 47.6-45.0 Cal ky BP. The shell was collected by Neandertals at a fossil exposure probably located more than 100 kms from the site. Microscopic analysis of the shell surface identifies clusters of striations on the inner lip. A dark red substance, trapped inside micropits produced by bioeroders, is interpreted as pigment that was homogeneously smeared on the outer shell surface. Dispersive X-ray and Raman analysis identify the pigment as pure hematite. Of the four hypotheses we considered to explain the presence of this object at the site, two (tool, pigment container) are discarded because in contradiction with observations. Although the other two (“manuport”, personal ornament) are both possible, we favor the hypothesis that the object was modified and suspended by a ‘thread’ for visual display as a pendant. Together with contextual and chronometric data, our results support the hypothesis that deliberate transport and coloring of an exotic object, and perhaps its use as pendant, was a component of Neandertal symbolic culture, well before the earliest appearance of the anatomically modern humans in Europe.
Highlights
Neandertal symbolic behavior is a controversial issue that has attracted much debate over the last thirty years [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
In this study we report on a fragmentary Miocene-Pliocene fossil marine shell, Aspa marginata, discovered in a Discoid Mousterian layer of the Fumane Cave, northern Italy, dated to at least 47.6-45.0 Cal ky BP
We report on a fossil marine shell, Aspa marginata, discovered in a Mousterian layer (A9) of the Fumane Cave, northern Italy dated to 47.6 cal ky BP
Summary
Neandertal symbolic behavior is a controversial issue that has attracted much debate over the last thirty years [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. We report on a fossil marine shell, Aspa marginata, discovered in a Mousterian layer (A9) of the Fumane Cave, northern Italy dated to 47.6 cal ky BP. The fossil marine shell was discovered during the 2005 excavations, in unit A9, subsquare 147d, in an area located at the back of the cave, 7m beyond the present-day drip-line (Figures S2 and S3>). The object (Figure 3a) is an apical fragment of a thick gastropod shell with a smooth surface, a blunt short spire and a deep siphonal canal These features are characteristic of the Bursidae species Aspa marginata (Gmelin, 1791). The shell’s outer surface is covered with micropits and, occasionally, networks of grooves produced by bioeroders that altered the shell during the life or shortly after the death of the mollusk (Figure 6b-c, e-f) These pits and grooves are filled with a dark red substance. Raman analysis identifies this iron oxide as hematite (Fe2O3) (Figure 9)
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