"Oldest Known Neanderthal Cave Paintings Found

Discovered in January 1912, in Indre-et-Loire, in the municipality of Langeais, France, La Roche-Cotard cave is located on the south-facing slope on the right bank of the Loire River.

Now, a team of experts led by Jean-Claude Marquet from the University of Tours, France, has uncovered the oldest recorded Neanderthal markings on the cave's wall.

These are non-figurative, symbolic objects, and the marks are believed to be finger grooves, lines left by human fingers on a soft surface that hardens over time.

According to the official statement, whose study has been published in the journal PloS One, a plethora of archaeological evidence gathered in many regions of the world has revealed information about the "cultural complexity" of these ancient extinct human species.

However, not much is known about the symbolic or artistic inscriptions they left on cave walls.