WASHINGTON: Scientists have discovered ancient painted scallops and cockleshells in Spain, which is the first hard evidence that Neanderthals made jewellry, thus suggesting that they were capable of symbolism, sweeping away age-old thinking that they were stupid.

(Picture made by Christoph P.E. Zollikofer - Wikipedia)

Body ornaments made of painted and pierced seashells dating back 70,000 to 1,20,000 years have been found in Africa and the Near East for years, and serve as evidence of symbolic thought among the earliest modern humans.

The absence of similar finds in Europe at that time, when it was Neanderthal territory, has supported...

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