Dr. Genevieve von Petzinger

So that's why people mention that cave is because it's such a neat example of that they didn't live there, but they appear to have returned frequently, at least during one period of time.

I was actually talking to my colleagues about it a while ago.

We think there might be like a whole Neanderthal culture sitting down in southern Spain that just really hasn't been properly recognized.

Because northern Spain has gotten more attention and has been sort of studied more.

But as things are starting to open up, it's looking like there may actually be quite a heavy presence of Neanderthals down south.

So this is kind of a stay tuned.

There's lots of work underway right now.

But, you know, and I mean, so think about it this way, too.

These are areas that have been studied for like, you know, 100 plus years.

Like France and Spain have a long history of Paleolithic art studies.

You can do entire programs at university in them.

There's an emphasis on it.

There's funding.

Think about what else is sitting out there in the world, in other countries where maybe just...

And again, this is not meant as a slam to anybody, because some countries are just too poor, and they have other priorities they need to pay attention to.

Other countries just may not have thought of themselves as potentially having a lot of ancient art in them, or it just hasn't been an emphasis in the country.

But there are so many blank spots on the map between, say, there and Denisova Cave in Siberia, where, again, we know that Neanderthals lived there with the Denisovans.

Like, we have Denny from 90,000 years ago.

It's a little girl who had one Neanderthal parent and one Denisovan parent.

Like, that's wild.