(One of the largest concentrations of hematite found in Site C at a place called the Belvedere, in Maastricht (Netherlands), contrasts with the background of stream sediment silt deposited by the Meuse to the Paleolithic.)

Red spots in the silt and the history of intelligence could be changed: discoveries in Maastricht, the Netherlands, these spots suggest that early Neanderthals engaged in symbolic activities long before modern man, Homo sapiens .

Conceptual thought leaves no archaeological traces. To apprehend, prehistorians … use the concept of “symbolic thinking”, that is to say, thought by symbols. A symbol is an object, word, sign, etc.. that represents something. For prehistorians, symbols play somewhat the role of concepts as children. And material symbols – the first head body ornaments – can leave archaeological traces. This explains why the dress is considered by prehistorians as a marker of symbolic thought, and hence, the emergence of modern thought.

The track of symbolic thought dated back so far in South Africa during the Middle Paleolithic (there are between 200,000 years and 30,000 years in Africa) and especially the site of Blombos Cave, where blocks of ocher striped lines, drilled shells impregnated with ocher and foliate bifacial retouched by pressure point to the existence of elaborate technical and artistic activities, so symbolic, since 75 000 years for Homo sapiens. Moreover, other shells and ocher dating drilled 82 500 years were also found in the Cave of Pigeons near the Moroccan village of Taforalt. Hence the idea that symbolic thought emerged from Homo sapiens while he was still living in the cradle of humanity, that is to say, in Africa.

But Wil Roebroeks, of Leiden University, and colleagues come to scrutinize a curious discovery made by the excavators of the sites C and F of the Belvedere in Maastricht. On Site C, it is a series of 15 tiny red spots on the edge clearly silty sediment deposited by the Meuse, there are about 250 000 years (nearly 20,000 years, according to dating by thermoluminescence and other techniques). A similar discovery, although more discreet, was made on the F site, some 300 meters from the site C. On the one hand, the analysis conducted by researchers proves that this is a material rich reddish hematite (iron oxide), writ of ocher, which could not be brought up on that for a remote site (the closest deposits are about 40 kilometers). On the other hand, the reconstructions suggest that it is upon payment of a certain amount of liquid that stains red ocher entered the sediment.Observations of other materials reddish had been made elsewhere in Europe (Spain Ambrona, Terra Amata in France or Becov Czech Republic) on ancient sites, but it is not possible to certify their origin or their human ages. C on the site of the Belvedere, however, it is clear that there are about 2,500 centuries, a Neanderthal paid above the silty sediment liquid ocher, prepared with a mineral brought from afar. On what? Maybe on itself, given the droplets splashing the sediment.

So can anyone think that this Neanderthal was going to decorate his body with a symbolic red pigment? Are we faced with the oldest evidence of symbolic thought? It is tempting to think, but nothing proves it. One thing at any rate is certain: the premiere book of modern thought to Homo sapiens amounts to prejudging!