Spain Cave Paintings May Pre-Date Modern Man
Stone Age cave paintings thought to be the oldest in the world are so ancient they may not have been created by modern man.
A new study has found the symbols - in 11 caves in northern Spain - are up to 41,000-years-old.
It means they could have been painted by Neanderthals - who roamed Europe until about 30,000 years ago - rather than our ancient ancestors.
If the dating is confirmed it would mean that advanced, abstract thinking emerged thousands of years earlier than has been assumed.
Previously, the oldest known cave paintings were those in France's Chauvet cave, and are between 32,000 and 37,000-years-old.
The oldest of the Spanish paintings is a red sphere from a cave called El Castillo and is about 40,800-years-old, according to research published in Science.
About 25 outlined handprints in another cave are at least 37,300-years-old. Slightly more recent paintings include horses.
Professor Joao Zilhao, from the University of Barcelona, believes the Spanish artworks were painted by Neanderthals, but said more convincing proof is needed.
"Cave paintings are one of the most exquisite examples of human symbolic behaviour, and that's what makes us human," he said.
"There is a strong chance that these results imply Neanderthal authorship, but I will not say we have proven it because we haven't."
Cave art expert Dr Paul Pettitt, from the University of Sheffield, said: "Until now our understanding of the age of cave art was sketchy at best, now we have firmly extended the earliest age of European cave art back by several thousand years."
British, Spanish and Portuguese scientists used a new method of dating that measured the radioactive decay of uranium traces in tiny stalactites forming on top of the paintings.
