The province of Malaga has once again become the focal point of the scientific debate regarding the origins of art in Europe. New studies confirm … that some of the earliest human graphic expressions – predating even the arrival of Homo sapiens – originated in the Ardales Cave, which houses red markings and engravings created by Neanderthals more than 40,000 years ago.<\/p>\n
These conclusions have been further bolstered by the recent launch of the book M\u00e1laga Neandertal at the Ardales Cultural Centre, a publication featuring the work of twenty international researchers. Additionally, a scientific paper published in the journal Complutum (Complutense University of Madrid) reinforces the vital role Malaga’s caves played in the birth of European Palaeolithic art.<\/p>\n
\nA paradigm shift in archaeology\n<\/p>\n
The turning point for this research occurred in 2018, when a study in the journal Science dated certain paintings in Ardales to approximately 65,000 years ago. This discovery sparked intense global debate over authorship, challenging the traditional view that art was an exclusive creation of Homo sapiens.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cave markings created by Neanderthals more than 40,000 years ago.<\/p>\n
(SUR)<\/p>\n
Seven years on, subsequent investigations have expanded the map of these graphic expressions. Scientific teams linked to the Ardales and Nerja caves have confirmed similar markings in other cavities across the province, including:<\/p>\n
\u2022Cueva de las Suertes (Antequera)<\/p>\n
\u2022Cueva de la Victoria and Cueva del Tesoro (Rinc\u00f3n de la Victoria)<\/p>\n
\u2022Cueva del Toro (Benalm\u00e1dena)<\/p>\n
All these sites share the same stylistic characteristics: red strokes and engravings applied directly with the fingers.<\/p>\n
These findings establish Malaga as one of the territories with the highest concentration of early prehistoric art in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The province of Malaga has once again become the focal point of the scientific debate regarding the origins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9043,3626,66,9041,1194,9040,2925,9042,17,582],"class_list":{"0":"post-15574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-ardales","9":"tag-art","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-had","12":"tag-its","13":"tag-oldest","14":"tag-one","15":"tag-origins","16":"tag-spain","17":"tag-the"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}