A study published today in Science Advances changes the way in which we see human prehistory and casts a new perspective on our ‘primitive’ ancestors: Neanderthals were capable of symbolic behaviour 115,000 years ago, well before meeting with Homo Sapiens. Diego Angelucci, geoarchaeologist from the University of Trento, who for ten years has been studying marine shells decorated by Neanderthals found in Spanish caves, expressed his satisfaction that “thanks to the radiometric dating technique, prehistory took a giant step forward today”