Painting a face is something that people have been doing for a very long time. It is such a basic form of art that you will even find very young children doing it in cultures around the world. According to a new study published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, this may have been something done all the way back to the time of Neanderthals’.

The study looks at a rock that has a complete fingerprint left behind on it from where the ancient artist was using red ocher to decorate. This is the earliest known example of a complete fingerprint, and it seems to have been left deliberately (though not because the artist had any idea that their fingerprint was unique).

On the rock itself, there is what appears to be a face made by the Neanderthal. The study authors comment on this, saying:

“This object contributes to our understanding of Neanderthals’ capacity for abstraction, suggesting that it could represent one of the earliest human facial symbolizations in Prehistory.”

When describing the fingerprint itself, the researchers in the study explain:

“The ocher dot does not appear as a shapeless addition or a mere stain. Rather, it contains a fingerprint that implies the pigment has been applied specifically with the tip of a finger soaked in pigment.”

While drawing faces is something that is pretty basic by modern standards, if it can be proven that this was indeed an attempt to draw a face by a Neanderthal, it will represent a significant jump in their cognitive abilities. Being able to have abstract thoughts like this brings them closer to modern humans than previously understood. The team says:

“This pebble could thus represent one of the oldest known abstractions of a human face in the prehistoric record, according to the hypothesis of Face Pareidolia.”

Face Pareidolia is the psychological process where humans tend to see faces in places where there aren’t any. For example, if you are looking up at the sky watching the clouds pass by, you will almost certainly start to see faces in the clouds. The same can be said when looking at the bark of a tree or even just the texture of a painted wall.

Humans are extremely good at seeing faces, whether they are actually there or not.

If the Neanderthals did the same thing, it could indicate that we are closer to them than most people would like to think.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about why we should be worried about the leak in the bottom of the ocean.