Neanderthal Graphic Behavior: The Pecked Pebble from Axlor Rockshelter (Northern Spain)

This paper presents a study of a pecked pebble from the Middle Paleolithic recovered more than 30 years ago in Axlor rockshelter in the Spanish Basque Country. At the time of the discovery, the piece was described as being deliberately modified, but since then it has been either ignored or described only as problematic evidence of Neanderthal symbolic behavior. In this work, we provide a new description and additional documentation of the piece, and we discuss its anthropic nature and the possibility that its meaning can be related to the small but credible record of graphic behavior known for early hominin groups prior to the Upper Paleolithic in Europe. The linear design theme of the Axlor piece is similar to that of other items made by European Neanderthals. These artifacts confirm the capability of pre-Homo sapiens sapiens humans to create and use portable "art." This tradition is evidence of the emergence of "behavioral modernity" among late Neanderthals. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]