WHAT DID NEANDERTHALS MAKE?
We know that the Neanderthals were talented makers. They used a sophisticated array of scrapers and blades, which they fashioned out of stone and other materials. And though Neanderthals were once portrayed as basic and brutish, scientists are now stressing a new narrative: This species was in its way as innovative and creative as our own ancestors. Here’s a look at what Neanderthals could make.
STONE TOOLS: It’s no secret that Neanderthals fashioned sophisticated stone “flakes,” tools with flat faces and thin, sharp sides. To form these flakes, they selected small chunks of stone, also called cores, and trimmed their sides until they took the shape of tortoise shells — flat on one
side and spherical on the other. They then smashed the tops of the trimmed stones with a single blow, spitting out sharpened flakes of a standard shape and size, perfect for cutting, carving, and scraping.
Studies say that the toolmaking practices associated with the Neanderthals
included the shaping of over 60 forms of flakes, all fit for specific functions. And though the species wielded some of these tools without any additional shaping and sharpening, they also modified many others into more sophisticated, more specialized implements, including saws and spear points. Some Neanderthal tools were actually set into handles and secured with ties and adhesives.
BONE TOOLS: Sharpened stones weren’t alone in the Neanderthal toolbox. A 2023 study in PLOS ONE found that Neanderthals also fashioned implements out of bone, once seen as a solely H. sapiens skill, for the purpose of butchering animals and preparing hides. Evidence for this has arisen from several Neanderthal sites of note, such as the Chagyrskava Cave in the Altai Mountains in Siberia, where about 1,200 bone tools were recently revealed. Researchers theorize that some 50,000 to 60,000 years ago, Neanderthals used the site to process a wide range of animals, including reindeer, horses, and bison, during the cold season.
As they cleaned off bones harvested from the large-hoofed animals, Neanderthals fashioned them into tools, including a large number of retouchers, to sharpen or shape stone implements, and at least one rounded tool similar to a present-day leatherworking instrument. This would have come in handy while processing hides.
CLOTHING: The creation of tools for preparing and piercing holes in hides indicates, according to some studies, that the Neanderthals made clothing. Adding to this assertion are recent finds of Neanderthal fiber technology. In 2020, researchers published a paper in Scientific Reports about a single strand of twisted tree frass from a Neanderthal site in France. Though the 50,000-year-old strand only amounts to a three-ply tangle of fibers, the team says that the twine may indicate a broader industry of string-making. “Twisted fibers provide the basis for clothing, rope, bags, nets, mats, boats, etc., which, once discovered, would have become an indispensable part of daily life,” the researchers report in their paper.
ART: Even more impressive are the claims that Neanderthals and modern humans showed similar capabilities in the creation of art. Research published in 2018 in Science Advances shows that Neanderthal art in the form of pigmented and perforated shells dates to around 115,000 years ago. While primitive, the shells are an indication of culture and the species sophistication that comes with it.
Other studies suggest Neanderthals worked with pigments to make rudimentary paint that they used on cave walls to depict a variety of shapes and handprints. And a 2022 analysis of caves in Spain indicates that Neanderthals also may have decorated their dwelling places with animal skulls.
BOATS? Some researchers also argue that sailing was not the sole domain of H. sapiens. Yet, in the absence of specific artifacts, much of the evidence for earlier seafaring efforts remains indirect, says Bruce Hardy, chair of the Department of Anthropology at Kenyon College in Ohio. “Most of it has to do with the fact that you have human occupation on islands that were never connected by land anywhere, at any point, even when we have lower sea levels,” says Hardy. “You either have to postulate that you’ve got natural rafts drifting and leading to human occupation of some of these islands, or you’ve got to have an intentional movement to the islands, which is going to have to involve some kind of watercraft.”
The strongest support for the idea comes from 100,000-year-old Neanderthal or H. erectus tools on Greek islands, including Crete, which lies about 25 miles from the mainland. The suggestion is that a population of
Neanderthals or H. erectus may have island hopped. Other researchers posit that Neanderthals could have sailed the Aegean as far back as 130,000 years ago, also based on the discovery of stone tools. It’s a controversial theory, with further investigations needed.
Another possibility exists that Neanderthals and H. erectus drifted to islands atop natural vegetation mats, says Hardy. But in his view, “there’s enough evidence out there that you really have to admit that boats are involved at some point.”
With their tools, art, and control of fire, it’s increasingly difficult to see the achievements of the Neanderthals as all that different from the achievements of our own ancestors. Adding to that difficulty is recent
research into Neanderthal speech.
In 2021, researchers at University of Binghamton in New York state and Universidad de Alcalá in Spain discovered that Neanderthals had auditory and speech capacities similar to modern-day humans. Drawing on CT scans and 3D models of the ear structures of both H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens, the findings are a further indication that we share more similarities with Neanderthals than scientists previously thought. While fossilized footprints and food scraps have hinted that Neanderthals were competent social creatures, how they communicated with one another remained a mystery. The 1989 discovery of a Neanderthal hyoid, a horseshoe-shaped structure in the throat that’s also known as a lingual bone, led to the suspicion that the species had the ability to speak. However, due to the different shapes of the H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens larynxes, the theory was dismissed. Now, the new study confirms that Neanderthals used their hyoid in a similar way to modern humans — namely as a support structure for the tongue.
So how did researchers reach the conclusion that the Neanderthals heard and made more than just caveman grunts? Highresolution CT scans of fossilized inner ear structures helped the team create virtual 3D models that resembled Neanderthal ears. They then ran the models through a series of computer simulations and found that the models were able to recognize sounds between 4 and 5 kilohertz, the frequency range for most modern human speech.
The range of frequencies recognized by the model also indicated that Neanderthal vocalizations likely included increased use of consonants rather than vowels. Though it is now confirmed that these species could perceive and produce a wide variety of sounds, it is still unclear whether these sounds constituted actual speech.