2010/07/12 by Óscar Moro Abadía, Manuel R. González Morales · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Primate Behavior and Ecology #Archaeology and Rock Art Studies
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0092.2010.00346.x
openalex publication_date 2010/07/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Since the late 1990s, a number of specialists have proposed a ‘multiple species model’ to explain the origins of behavioural modernity. This model establishes that most of the traits defining modern behaviour, including ornaments and art, are not exclusive to modern humans, but arose among anatomically ‘non-modern’ populations, like the late Neanderthals of Europe. This paper proposes that the emergence of this multiple species model is related to conceptual changes in the definitions of ‘Neanderthals’ and ‘art’. In the first place, Neanderthals, once characterized as apish creatures lacking intelligence, are now considered by many as complex cognitive people capable of modern behaviour, including the ability to create symbolic and artistic representations. In the second place, personal ornaments, once trivialized as ‘trinkets’, are recognized today as artistic representations and as symbolically valued as other prehistoric artworks. These redefinitions of Neanderthals and personal ornaments reflect not only the multiple species model but also some of the recent debates concerning the origins of symbolic behaviour.