A Short Film Between Science, Art, and Evolutionary Memory

For a long time, the image of the Neanderthal Man has suffered from a distorted, almost caricatured representation. Popular culture has helped spread the idea of a crude, primitive human being, more beast-like than human. Outdated films, comics, novels, and documentaries have portrayed him as a brutal survivor, incapable of symbolic thought or inner life, relegating him to the margins of the evolutionary narrative. A fossilized icon, anchored to the prejudices of an outdated anthropology.
Yet, for several decades, archaeology and evolutionary sciences have been overturning this paradigm. The figure of the Neanderthal has slowly freed itself from the chains of myth to emerge as that of a complex human being, capable of sophisticated technologies, cultural practices, social interactions, and symbolic gestures.

Based on these premises, the short film "Neanderthal, Vultures, and Ancestral Rites" was produced in 2024 within the project "From Sky to Earth: Avifauna, Symbolism, and Environment from Neanderthal to Sapiens to the Anthropocene," promoted by the University of Ferrara, with the support of the Veneto Region and in collaboration with numerous organizations and museum institutions also from the Ice Age Europe Network such as MUSE – the Science Museum of Trento and Neanderthal Museum of Mettmann. This work blends scientific dissemination with cinematic storytelling, offering the public an updated and rigorous depiction of Neanderthal life.
The short film, directed by Stefano Zampini (also known for “l’uomo di Val Rosna - The man of Val Rosna"), is set around 47,000 years ago and follows the daily phases of preparing a symbolic ritual related to the crafting of the flight feathers of a cave vulture. The scene unfolds at the Fumane Cave, one of the most significant archaeological contexts for the study of the European Middle Palaeolithic. Here, excavations led by Professor Marco Peresani and his team from the University of Ferrara have revealed unequivocal traces of Neanderthal symbolic behaviour: the wings of large predatory birds were carefully sectioned to extract feathers, likely intended for personal adornment or ritual purposes.

The short film portrays two Neanderthal individuals performing slow, precise, and deliberate gestures: extracting feathers with Mousterian tools, carefully selecting useful parts, methodically arranging objects. Nothing is left to chance: every gesture tells a story, every detail is the result of a philologically based reconstruction. The scientific consultancy was entrusted to an interdisciplinary team composed of Prof. Peresani, Dr. Lisa Carrera (palaeornithologist), and Dr. Nicolò Scialpi (science communicator and phd student in prehistory and human evolution), who ensured the historical and naturalistic accuracy of each sequence.

But "Neanderthal, Vultures, and Ancestral Rites" is also—and perhaps above all—a powerful visual work. The cinematography, direction, and soundtrack contribute to creating a suspended, almost mystical atmosphere. The absence of dialogue and the controlled use of natural sounds enhance the feeling of being silent witnesses to a remote time. The narrative relies on the language of bodies, hands, and glances: an ancient, universal grammar that needs no words to convey emotions and meanings.
It is no coincidence that the short film was designed for museum viewing. It will be permanently screened within the Paleocenter at Fumane Cave, integrating into the site visit experience and helping to convey, in an immersive and emotional way, the results of years of archaeological research. Additionally, it is scheduled to participate in archaeological and scientific film festivals both in Italy and abroad, confirming the project's educational and international focus.
The strength of the short film lies in its ability to restore humanity to the Neanderthals, without descending into spectacular fiction or gratuitous reconstruction. It is a virtuous example of how science communication can become a story, an image, a sensory experience. Not just an audiovisual product, but a tool for reflection on human identity and the deep memory that connects us to our ancestors.

The "Neanderthal, Vultures, and Ancestral Rites" was produced in 2024 within the project "From Sky to Earth: Avifauna, Symbolism, and Environment from Neanderthal to Sapiens to the Anthropocene" initiative, of which the film represents the culmination, involved dozens of operators, students, educators, and researchers throughout 2024 in educational activities, workshops, public events, conferences, and guided tours. A broad and articulated activity that focused on the dialogue between science, the territory, and the public, aiming to raise awareness about prehistory, ecology, biodiversity, and the cultural value of our ancestors.

Through the short film, the legacy of Neanderthals is not simply recounted but experienced, felt, made tangible. It’s not just a matter of knowledge but of empathy: watching a Neanderthal preparing an ornament, seeing the care in their gestures, the conscious choice of materials, means recognizing something that belongs to us, that speaks of us as well.
In an era where the historical depth of our species is often forgotten, works like this remind us that evolution is not just a sequence of fossils and genetic mutations but a human journey, made of emotions, symbols, cultures, and relationships. A journey that continues to surprise and question us, even through the powerful and silent language of cinema.