Neanderthals shake scientists: Their art in Spain tells of intellectual ability

The scars were applied by a process of spraying and blowing, 20,000 years before modern people came to Europe.

An earlier study attributed marks to missing cousins of modern people, reports the BBC, the Periscopi.

Some experts have argued that the stains on the Ardal Cave had taken place naturally.

But a study published in the magazine The PNAS supports the view that they were part of Neanderthal's cave art.

It points out that deposits remain outside other natural materials in caves because of unusual colors and texts.

New tests, including the most detailed dating, have meant that these marks could have taken place 65 thousand years earlier.

Research also revealed that the pigment was applied at different times, some between 10 thousand years of division.

This means that generations of Neanderthals have returned to this land several times to make these symbolic marks.

This study increases evidence of Neanderthal intellectual skills. /Periscope