43,000-year-old human fingerprint is world's oldest — and made by a Neanderthal

Durham University archaeologist Paul Pettitt, who also was not involved in the discovery, said the rock was an "unequivocal example of the Neanderthal use of red pigment" that showed how Neanderthals were routinely leaving marks on cave walls and portable objects. But whether the red dot was truly symbolic of something or not was still unclear, he said.