Were Neanderthals smarter than we thought?
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Neanderthals have a reputation for being lumbering, cavemen with low IQs, but a new discovery suggests they may have been more intelligent than we think.
A 60,000-year-old multi-purpose bone tool unearthed in France suggests Neanderthals understood how to use bones to make useful devices.
This skill was previously attributed to our species, Homo sapiens, and casts a new light on evolution 250,000 to 28,000 years ago.
Evidence of meat butchering and bone fracturing to extract marrow are evident on the tool. Marks (shown in the green boxes) suggest the use of the bone fragment for carved sharpening the cutting edges of stone tools
'This is the first time a multi-purpose bone tool from this period has been discovered,' said Luc Doyon from the University of Montreal.
'It was long thought that before Homo sapiens, other species did not have the cognitive ability to produce this type of artefact.
'This discovery reduces the presumed gap between the two species and prevents us from saying that one was technically superior to the other.'
The production of bone tools by Neanderthals is open to debate.
For much of the twentieth century, scientists were reluctant to recognise the ability of this species to use materials like bone in this way.
For much of the twentieth century, scientists were reluctant to recognise the ability of this species to use materials like bone in this way. Pictured is a reconstruction of the Neanderthal environment
However, over the past two decades, a numbers of discoveries have indicated the use of hard materials from animals by Neanderthals.
'Our discovery is an additional indicator of bone work by Neanderthals and helps put into question the linear view of the evolution of human behaviour,' Professor Doyon said.
The tool was uncovered during annual digs at the Grotte du Bison at Arcy-sur-Cure in Burgundy, France.
Extremely well preserved, the tool comes from the left femur of an adult reindeer and its age is estimated between 55,000 and 60,000 years ago.
Using bones to make tools was not the primary motivation for Neanderthals hunting.
Above all, scientists believe they hunted to obtain the rich energy provided by meat and marrow.
Evidence of meat butchering and bone fracturing to extract marrow are seen on the tool.
The tool, made from reindeer bone was found at the Grotte du Bison at Arcy-sur-Cure in Burgundy, France
Other marks suggest the use of the bone fragment for sharpening the cutting edges of stone tools.
Chipping and a significant polish show the use of the bone as a scraper, according to the study.
'The presence of this tool at a context where stone tools are abundant suggests an opportunistic choice of the bone fragment and its intentional modification into a tool by Neanderthals,' Professor Doyon said.
Separate research by Leiden University last year also found Neanderthals were anything but the incompetent species that they are often deemed.
The researchers pointed to evidence of complex hunting methods that required a group effort and planning in advance.
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