Neandertals made the first specialized bone tools in Europe.
Modern humans replaced Neandertals ∼40,000 y ago. Close to the time of replacement, Neandertals show behaviors similar to those of the modern humans arriving into Europe, including the use of specialized bone tools, body ornaments, and small blades. It is highly debated whether these modern behaviors developed before or as a result of contact with modern humans. Here we report the identification of a type of specialized bone tool, lissoir, previously only associated with modern humans. The microwear preserved on one of these lissoir is consistent with the use of lissoir in modern times to obtain supple, lustrous, and more impermeable hides. These tools are from a Neandertal context proceeding the replacement period and are the oldest specialized bone tools in Europe. As such, they are either a demonstration of independent invention by Neandertals or an indication that modern humans started influencing European Neandertals much earlier than previously believed. Because these finds clearly predate the oldest known age for the use of similar objects in Europe by anatomically modern humans, they could also be evidence for cultural diffusion from Neandertals to modern humans.
Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
Marie
M
Soressi
Shannon P
SP
McPherron
Michel
M
Lenoir
Tamara
T
Dogandžić
Paul
P
Goldberg
Zenobia
Z
Jacobs
Yolaine
Y
Maigrot
Naomi L
NL
Martisius
Christopher E
CE
Miller
William
W
Rendu
Michael
M
Richards
Matthew M
MM
Skinner
Teresa E
TE
Steele
Sahra
S
Talamo
Jean-Pierre
JP
Texier
D000818:Animals; D001842:Bone and Bones; D005580:Fossils; D006801:Humans; D059125:Neanderthals; D011874:Radiometry
Middle Paleolithic; Paleolithic archaeology; human evolution