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. he 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.
