Collecting is a form of leisure, and even a passion, consisting of collecting, preserving and displaying objects. When we look for its origin in the literature, we are taken back to “the appearance of writing and the fixing of knowledge”, specifically with the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (7th century BC, Mesopotamia), and his fondness for collecting books, which in his case were in the form of clay tablets. This is not, however, a true reflection, for we have evidence of much earlier collectors. The curiosity and interest in keeping stones or fossils of different colors and shapes, as manuports, is as old as we are. For decades we have had evidence of objects of no utilitarian value in Neanderthal homes. Several European sites have shown that these Neanderthal groups treasured objects that attracted their attention. On some occasions, these objects may have been modified to make a personal ornament and may even have been integrated into subsistence activities such as grinders or hammers. Normally, one or two such specimens are found but, to date, no Neanderthal cave or camp has yielded as many as the N4 level of Prado Vargas Cave. In the N4 Mousterian level of Prado Vargas, 15 specimens of Upper Cretaceous marine fossils belonging to the Gryphaeidae, Pectinidae, Cardiidae, Pholadomyidae, Pleurotomariidae, Tylostomatidae and Diplopodiidae families were found in the context of clay and autochthonous cave sediments. During MIS 3, a group of Neanderthals transported at least fifteen marine fossils, which were collected from various Cretaceous units located in the surrounding area, to the Prado Vargas cave. The fossils, with one exception, show no evidence of having been used as tools; thus, their presence in the cave could be attributed to collecting activities. These activities could have been motivated by numerous tangible and intangible causes, which suggest that collecting activities and the associated abstract thinking were present in Neanderthals before the arrival of modern humans.

Collecting is a form of leisure, and even a passion, consisting of collecting, preserving and displaying objects. When we look for its origin in the literature, we are taken back to “the appearance of writing and the fixing of knowledge”, specifically with the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (7th century BC, Mesopotamia), and his fondness for collecting books, which in his case were in the form of clay tablets. This is not, however, a true reflection, for we have evidence of much earlier collectors.

In the N4 Mousterian level of the Prado Vargas cave site, 15 Upper Cretaceous marine fossils have been recovered, which were brought to the cave by Neanderthal groups, and only one of them shows traces of having been used as a hammer.

The rest do not present modifications that indicate their practical use as tools; so, they could be interpreted as the product of collection activities.

This would indicate that Neanderthals had psychological and behavioral characteristics similar to those of our species, for which collecting is a common and complex practice motivated by numerous tangible and intangible causes, including competition, cooperation, symbolism, selfishness, selflessness, a sense of continuity, marketing, or addiction, among others.

The Neanderthals’ motivation for bringing this set of fossils to the Prado Vargas cave might have been complex, and we have no valid hypothesis that can explain it.

However, we should not forget the presence of children in the cave, for the collecting instinct characteristic of children could have had a relevant role in the set’s existence. In any case, the Upper Cretaceous fossil collection of the Prado Vargas cave site suggests that collecting, and the abstract thought that it entails, characterized Neanderthals before the arrival of Homo sapiens.