Evrim Yazgin
Cosmos science journalist
Fossils found in a cave in northern Spain might be an example of humans – in this case Neanderthals – collecting things for fun.
Collecting things for aesthetic purposes is considered a very human thing to do. Modern people collect all sorts of things from stamps, comic books and cards to coins, art and models. I have a collection of fun socks that I like to wear in odd pairs.
Assyrian King Ashurbanipal in the 7th century BCE was a collector of clay tablets – an early version of a book collection.
The Neanderthal collection, detailed in a paper published in the journal Quaternary, dates to about 40,000–55,000 years ago when Neanderthals occupied the Prado Vargas Cave.
In addition to evidence that Neanderthals set up camp, made tools and butchered deer in the cave, archaeologists found 15 marine fossils.
Among the fossils were those of extinct sea snails and clams. They were most likely collected from rocks in the surrounding area (up to 30km away) dating to the late Cretaceous (145–66 million years ago) – the last period in the “Age of Dinosaurs”.
It appears that the fossils were not used as tools or ornaments. Only one fossil shows signs it may have been used as a hammer. They may have been collected for purely aesthetic or symbolic interest, or perhaps in social practices such as gift-giving.
“These activities could have been motivated by numerous tangible and intangible causes, which suggest that collecting activities and the associated abstract thinking were present in Neanderthals before the arrival of modern humans,” the authors write.
The authors even suggest that Neanderthal children may have been the ones to collect the fossils.
Even this ancient collection may not be the earliest in human history.
“Where can we find the first evidence of collecting?” the authors of the paper ask.
“The reddish jasper stone, which looks like a human face, was found in the Makapansgat Valley (South Africa) and which looks like a human face, was possibly collected by an Australopithecus africanus and taken to his cave [about 3 million years ago],” they write. “An engraved mussel shell was found on the island of Java by Dubois was discovered and was associated with Homo erectus.”
It seems even in our ancient past, that urge to collect has been present.
Now I’m off to find some dinosaur socks.
