Neanderthal Art

Neanderthal Art

From The Ancients by History Hit

June 4, 2026 · 1h 9m · Episode 668

About this episode

The episode explores the significance of Neanderthal art and its implications for understanding human evolution.

Fifty thousand years ago, Neanderthal artists in Ice Age Europe painted symbols and handprints deep inside caves, leaving behind some of the oldest known art on the continent. These discoveries are transforming how we understand our closest human relatives. Today, Tristan Hughes is joined by Genevieve von Petzinger to explore the fascinating story of Neanderthal art. What kinds of images did Neanderthals create? What did these markings mean? And how might their artistic traditions have influenced the first groups of Homo sapiens who later arrived in Europe? MORE Homo Sapiens v Neanderthals Listen on Apple Listen on Spotify Lascaux Cave: Ice Age Art Listen on Apple Listen on Spotify We're going on *TOUR* to Australia and New Zealand! - grab your tickets here . Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff. All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds The Ancients is a History Hit podcast. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week plus early access ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe .   Hosted on Acast. See…

People in this episode

Host: Tristan Hughes

Guest: Genevieve von Petzinger

Topics covered

  • Neanderthal art
  • Ice Age
  • cave paintings
  • Homo sapiens
  • human evolution

Keywords

  • Neanderthal
  • art
  • cave paintings
  • symbols
  • Homo sapiens
  • Ice Age
  • Genevieve von Petzinger

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: History Hit

Books & works: Lascaux Cave

Places: Ice Age Europe

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