[ti:Cave Paintings Show Neanderthals Were Artists] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:01.00]A new study suggests that Neanderthals made art [00:05.88]far earlier than once believed, perhaps some 20,000 years [00:11.84]before the appearance of modern humans in Europe. [00:16.28]The recent study, which appeared [00:19.80]in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), [00:25.12]suggests Neanderthals used a red ochre pigment, a kind of red, [00:32.08]earthy paint, to make cave art some 65,000 years ago. [00:39.20]Modern humans did not exist in Europe [00:42.60]at the time the cave images were made. [00:47.12]The paintings in the Caves of Ardales, [00:50.84]near Málaga in southern Spain, [00:53.76]add to increasing evidence that Neanderthals, [00:58.36]who died off about 40,000 years ago, [01:02.04]were more complex than is commonly believed. [01:06.16]Pigments - natural coloring materials [01:10.44]- were made in the caves at different times [01:13.84]up to 15,000 and 20,000 years apart, the study found. [01:20.84]Earlier research had suggested that the pigments were the result [01:26.16]of natural processes rather than being man-made. [01:31.08]Joāo Zilhāo was one of the authors of the study. [01:36.24]Zilhāo said dating methods showed that ochre had been spat [01:41.76]by Neanderthals onto stalagmites, possibly as part of a ritual. [01:49.04]Stalagmites are pointed pieces of rock [01:52.48]that stick up from the floor of a cave. [01:56.00]Zilhāo suggested that the study helps [01:59.44]to change our opinions, or attitudes, about Neanderthals. [02:05.04]"They were closer to humans. [02:08.00]Recent research has shown they liked objects, [02:11.60]they mated with humans and now we can show [02:15.16]that they painted caves like us," he said. [02:19.44]Wall paintings made by early modern humans, [02:23.28]such as those found in the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave of France, [02:28.80]are more than 30,000 years old. [02:32.16]I'm John Russell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM