[Rockhounds] Neanderthals the First Fossil Collectors?

[Paul]

Neanderthal Children May Have Collected Fossils, 
Just Like Modern Kids Collect Stickers
Yet more evidence that Neanderthals were like us.
Benjamin Taub, IFLScience, November 18, 2024
https://www.iflscience.com/neanderthal-children-may-have-collected-fossils-just-like-modern-kids-collect-stickers-76829

Fossil collection found in Neanderthal cave suggests abstract thinking
Justin Jackson , Phys.org, November 20, 2024
https://phys.org/news/2024-11-fossil-neanderthal-cave-abstract.html

The open access paper is:

Navazo Ruiz, M., Benito-Calvo, A., Lozano-Francisco,
M.C., Alonso Alcalde, R., Alonso García, P., de la Fuente Juez, H., 
Santamaría Diez, M. and Cristóbal Cubillo, P., 2024. Were 
Neanderthals the First Collectors? First Evidence Recovered in 
Level 4 of the Prado Vargas Cave, Cornejo, Burgos and Spain. 
Quaternary, 7(4), p.49.
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/7/4/49

Yours,

Paul H.