Pictured here is the view looking down through the vegetation into the skylight entrance of Einhornhöhle. This is a collapsed feature at the far end of the cave. In the summer months when the sun is at its highest, a shaft of sunlight can be seen falling straight down through this hole. In the summer of 2021, researchers announced the discovery of the first directly-dated piece of Neanderthal art: A distinctly-carved bone from a now extinct giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus). It was excavated from sediments that blocked an ancient entrance to Einhornhöhle (Unicorn Cave) in Germany’s Harz Mountains. Most Important to researchers, the bone featured a deliberate engraving in the form of a chevron, indicating that Neanderthals had the capacity for symbolic thinking—and what some researchers believe is “art.”. These findings were recently published in the journal Nature Evolution & Ecology.
