A metal pin adorning a military uniform signifies rank; a ring on the left hand’s fourth finger announces matrimony. Most scientists thought that the capability for such symbolic thinking was unique to modern humans, but a new study suggests that it dates back to before the Neandertals.
Archaeologist João Zilhão of the University of Bristol in England and his colleagues found 50,000-year-old perforated painted seashells and pigment containers on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe, a region that was inhabited solely by Neandertals at the time. Modern humans who lived in Africa at that time used similar objects as jewelry and for body painting to symbolize their social standing. The find suggests that the brains of the common ancestor of both species must have already had the biological basis for symbolic thought, meaning its development dates back to about half a million years ago, Zilhão says. He adds that the discovery also implies that the foundation for language was already in place that long ago, because assigning specific meanings to arbitrary words and sounds is “symbolic thinking by definition.”
This article was originally published with the title Neandertal Symbolism.
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Add CommentDear all,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBasically, every living organism needs to describe somehow its environment to be able to function within it. Does not really matter what that description is made of, could be phenotypes or bird’s chirps, for example... - What matters is that description is made of symbols.
To us, humans, these symbols might be entirely incomprehensible, but this should not be an obstacle to a logical conclusion.
To us, humans, human symbols are comprehensible - to a degree our culture allows us to interpret them. However, the degree our own ability to comprehend should not be a criterion in judgements about symbolic thoughts of other cultures, and indeed, of other species.
Kind regards,
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy previous, approved comment is not shown. Under the article there is "Read Comments (1)"; indicating that there is one comment, but under Discuss This Article there is "0 Comments" message.
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Some times these articles are ironic. Every living thing on this planet has a way it can communicate with its own kind and sometimes with other kind. Just because we humans can some times grasp a brief understanding of that communication, or one species communication is similar to ours, or we look a little bit like that species, does not mean that we are related to that species. Every living thing on this planet is connected through our DNA, but we are all not related through our DNA.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll these lonely hearted people who work so hard to relate themselves to other species who look a little bit like we do should work a little harder at getting a life that is their own. You only work hard to relate yourself to a species that you stand to obtain a large inheritance from and who will not subject you to a string of DNA testing to prove that you are not related to that species.
Hah! i knew it! I always believed that Neanderthals weren't the mindless brutes that they have been made out to be. So....why are they extinct? Hmmm...what have modern homo sapiens been known to do when they encounter another civilization with inferior weapons?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHorus6 - Do you mean besides taking their women?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDamir Ibrisimovic - In case no moderator replies: unfortunately, there seems to be a significant delay between entering a comment and its being posted on this site. It's best to return to the home page briefly, then return to the article to confirm comment posting. This is a site problem that begs solution.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnother site problem that begs a solution is the lack of ability to see an index of your previous posts. With a hundred articles a day, finding an article you commented on again to have any kind of meaningful discussion is nearly impossible.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf they want people to actually feel engaged by this site and use it, they've got to step it up.
Regarding the article, I completely agree with Damir and Horus. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever spent time observing nature, as it is clear that nearly all life forms from animals to insects... have means of identifying at very least their immediate environment, processing it, weighing it against their own intentions, and acting. For Neanderthalensis to have survived long enough to be Neanderthalensis at all, it would need this ability or it'd be picked apart by predators immediately.
I'm not sure what you mean to say, James. How is all life not related by DNA? Do you propose a second, simultaneous parallel origin of life? I know of someone working out such a theory. Quite improbable, and the evidence all runs counter, but still a finite possibility, no matter how small. Or have I misinterpreted this...
It's sexual selection that originally caused this symbolism- , not only in Neandertalenses, but also in bower birds! Choosing colourful 'found objects' ( objets trouves) and "installing" them in artful displays is nothing but masculine attention seeking, we may call it art- to find favour with female partners.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisColour perception plays a big part because it is evolutionarily linked with food and appetite. See: Youthevity.com
Dearest Damir Ibrisimovic re:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"To us, humans, human symbols are comprehensible - to a degree our culture allows us to interpret them."
Please describe either in words or pictures a symbol that my culture will not "allow" me to interpret. Then describe how your culture "allowed" you to interpret it. Now name a culture that does not "allow" one of its members to interpret this or any other symbol.
I don't need to understand Mandarin to learn how to use chop-sticks or understand Spanish to eat a tortilla.
rjvg50 - I'll let Damir Ibrisimovic defend his own choice of words, but just in case by chance English is not his native language (we have no way of knowing), I'd suggest that perhaps he should have chosen 'enable' instead of 'allow'.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPersonally, there are a lot of symbols that my culture hasn't enabled me to interpret, including many Russian letters and all Kanji symbols. I did live in Germany one year which, along with the more familiar letters, did enable me to to interpret some German language.
All I can say is that if you can read Mandarin Kanji symbols, you probably didn't grow up in Muskogee. I don't understand what chopsticks have to do with it but if the sign says. 'get your chopsticks here', you may be out of luck unless you can interpret Mandarin Kanji, even in Muskogee.
There has been an objection re my use of word “allow” and a suggestion has been raised that I should have used “enable”. Unless we are bicultural, i.e. fully comprehend two or more cultures, we have to have often lengthy explanation of a symbol of another culture. The phenomenon can often be exemplified with numerous issues in translation. A single word in the source language can have a lot of association with other words and concepts. And all of that imagery is never exactly replicated in the target language. As result, translators often compromise to a degree the target language allows them.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOur humanity does enable us to fully comprehend other cultures. Unfortunately, we rarely utilise this ability and to fully understand all of the cultures on our planet probably needs as many lifetimes...
Kind regards,
Good for us! the purely symbolic/visual thinkers.
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