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association of the
Unicorn cave. The excavations are being conducted in the Jacob Friesen passage, in which hundreds of Neanderthal stone artifacts had already been recovered during the 1980s. This passage leads to a buried cave entrance, which is also being excavated. Its entrance portal collapsed about 10,000 years ago. Protected under the collapse of the ceiling made of stone and earth material, the bone artefact lay in a well-preserved Neanderthal cultural layer amidst the remains of hunting prey. The engraved bone was dated to around 51,000 years old, making it the oldest piece of art ever found in Europe.
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Europe, which suggests considerable cognitive abilities. The processed piece of bone speaks for the creative power of the
Neanderthal and that he communicated at least through symbols. It is an indication that the Neanderthals had an aesthetic sensibility. Terberger considers the bone from the cave to be outstanding evidence from the time of the Neanderthals in Lower Saxony and one of the most important finds from the time of the Neanderthals in Central Europe. The paleontologist Silvia Bello from
151:, about six centimeters long, four centimeters wide and three centimeters thick. On one side it features an angular line pattern of six engravings up to three centimeters long. Another pattern of four short engravings has been worked into the lower area. The bone can be placed vertically. Investigations using 3D microscopy showed that these are not battle marks, but intentionally incorporated notches. A radiocarbon dating of the bone gave an age of around 51,000 years.
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The Lower Saxony State Office for the
Preservation of Monuments at the University of Göttingen, the Technical University of Braunschweig, the Universities of Kiel and Tübingen and the Free University of Berlin were involved in the research project. The research was funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry
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The researchers assume that the
Neanderthals deliberately chose bones of the giant deer for their engraving because it was an imposing animal with antlers almost four meters wide. To determine the cost of the engraving, the researchers conducted experimental archaeology on the foot bone of modern-day
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According to Thomas
Terberger from the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the Seminar for Prehistory and Early History at the University of Göttingen, the find shows that the Neanderthals took the trouble to produce symbolic marks before the arrival of modern humans in
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The
Einhorn Cave near Scharzfeld is considered to be the key site for research into Neanderthals in northern Germany. Since 2019, archaeologists from the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation have been conducting excavations there with the Unicornu fossile society, the operating
359:
Leder, Dirk; Hermann, Raphael; Hüls, Matthias; Russo, Gabriele; Hoelzmann, Philipp; Nielbock, Ralf; Böhner, Utz; Lehmann, Jens; Meier, Michael; Schwalb, Antje; Tröller-Reimer, Andrea; Koddenberg, Tim; Terberger, Thomas (September 2021).
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cattle, which is comparable to that of the giant deer. They showed that the bone first had to be boiled in order to be able to engrave the softened surface of the bone with stone implements. This took about 1.5 hours for the sample.
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The decorated piece of bone is around 10,000 years older than previous finds of Upper
Palaeolithic art, and previous finds have been attributable to modern humans, who only arrived in Central Europe about 40,000 years ago.
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The excavation manager of
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A 51.000 year old engraved bone reveals
Neanderthalers' capacity for symbolic behaviour.
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105:. Dated to 51,000 years ago, the piece is the oldest piece of art ever found in Europe.
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362:"A 51,000-year-old engraved bone reveals Neanderthals' capacity for symbolic behaviour"
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Dirk Leder, Raphael
Hermann, Matthias Hüls, Gabrielle Russo, Philipp Hoelzmann,
326:"Is This 51,000-Year-Old Deer Bone Carving an Early Example of Neanderthal Art?"
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sees the find as one of the most complex artistic expressions of Neanderthals.
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for Science and Culture as part of the "PRO Lower Saxony" program.
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340:"Symbole des Neandertalers aus der Einhornhöhle im Harz"
505:"Neandertaler: Frühmensch schnitzte Muster in Knochen"
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485:"Universität Göttingen - Information for the Media"
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491:(in German). Universität Göttingen. 5 July 2021
416:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
411:"What was the first "art"? How would we know?"
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465:"Kreative Neandertaler verzierten Knochen"
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409:McDermott, Amy (2 November 2021).
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311:"The animals with an eye for art"
572:vom 10. Juli 2021, S. 102–104 (
174:London's Natural History Museum
95:Giant deer bone of Einhornhöhle
24:Giant deer bone of Einhornhohle
564:Das Geheimnis der Einhornhöhle
558:doi:10.1038/s41559-021-01487-z
471:(in German). n-tv. 5 July 2021
366:Nature Ecology & Evolution
97:is a piece of art made in the
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147:The find is a toe bone of a
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533:(in German). 5 July 2021.
346:(in German). 30 June 2021
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554:Ecology & Evolution.
511:(in German). 5 July 2021
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281:Landesarchaeologen 2022
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569:Der Spiegel
135:Description
57:Width: 4 cm
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783:Montenegro
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743:Kazakhstan
646:Azerbaijan
543:Utz Böhner
515:30 October
495:8 November
475:30 October
350:30 October
245:Fox-Skelly
180:References
163:Evaluation
149:giant deer
101:period by
76:Discovered
758:Lithuania
402:235746596
386:2397-334X
269:n-tv 2022
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