Neanderthals Made Ochre Crayons 130,000 Years Ago, Showing Evidence of a Colorful Culture

Humans have used color to express creativity and cultural significance for thousands of years. The use of colored materials, such as ochre, has long been considered a key indicator of symbolic behavior among human ancestors. And as it turns out, humans may not have been the only ones partaking in this behavior — Neanderthals understood the power of color, too.

A new study in Science Advances provides compelling support for the use of ochre by Neanderthals at the Middle Paleolithic Micoquian sites in Crimea and mainland Ukraine. The analysis of 16 ochre pieces from these sites — spanning up to 70,000 years — found that several pieces show intentional modifications that indicate more than just utilitarian use.

Read More: A Neanderthal Fingerprint Points to Art, and Possibly Portraiture, Around 43,000 Years Ago

Analyzing Neanderthal Crayons

All 16 ochre pieces analyzed showed purposeful modification by Neanderthals. These modifications include grinding, scraping, scoring, and flaking. While some ochre pieces may have been used for practical tasks like processing hides, the deliberate shaping of crayon-like tools suggests Neanderthals were making sophisticated choices in the pieces’ design process and execution.

Three of the ochre pieces especially stood out to researchers. One piece was shaped like a crayon and indicated repeated resharpening, with the second seeming to be a piece of another crayon-like tool. The third was unique as it exhibited engraved and polished surfaces alongside its crayon appearance.

What this analysis indicates is that some Crimean Neanderthals selected ochre pieces with coloring properties, methodically processed them, and then used them in ways that go beyond simple utility.

How Color Can Teach Us About Culture

Over the past few decades, the use of ochre has become central to the study of symbolic culture. Archaeologists have found that a society’s use of color can influence their language, rituals, body modifications, and other practices that can tell us a lot about that society’s cultural identity.

In this study, the sequence of technical actions necessary for this Neanderthal society to create these crayon-like pieces reveals purposeful design.

“The deliberate shaping and reuse of crayons, the engraved motifs, and the evidence for curated tools collectively support the conclusion that at least some ochre materials were involved in symbolic activities,” said the study’s authors.

These findings prove that the Neanderthals living on these Micoquian sites were cognitively and culturally complex — a complexity usually reserved for ancient human relatives. The Crimean Neanderthals’ selective processing and long-term use of coloring materials shows that they were actively making choices that reflect meaning, identity, and communication.

Crayons and Neanderthal Complexity

This finding importantly extends the evidence of symbolic material culture beyond Homo sapiens. The research team notes that, in the history of humans, “rather than corresponding to a sudden changeover, the use of ochre by human cultures was the result of a slow evolution, with ancient roots, involving different fossil human species.”

The use of ochre appears to have developed in a similar manner among Neanderthals. As the process for the collection, creation, and use of ochre crayons stayed consistent across 70,000 years, this practice suggests a type of cultural continuity rarely seen outside human evolution.

Based on this discovery, researchers conclude that color-related symbolic behavior was not strictly confined to humans alone. Instead, these Crimean crayons present a more colorful view of Neanderthals and their culture.

Read More: Neanderthals May Have Used Glue to Get Themselves Out of Sticky Situations

Article Sources

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• This article covers a recent study published in Science Advances: Evidence for symbolic use of ochre by Micoquian Neanderthals in Crimea