The Ancients
Neanderthal Art
Published: 4 June 2026 at 03:00 Europe/London
Listen on
Episode notes
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
Lascaux Cave: Ice Age Art
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 acast.com/privacy for more information.