PASS IT DOWN

Atraditions generations: the developed collaboration glue Take technologies distilled nother of is birch knowledge passed close-knit would Indeed, from and tar, advantage Neanderthals necessitate on a teaching. tree natural groups between some and bark. of

Although seep flames, and Anthropological from a 2023 the birches adhesive Archaeological near Sciences can open analysis developed sophisticated found a far procedure. Neanderthals more

Comparing of experimental chemical birch properties tars produced by dierent methods to two ancient birch tar pieces, researchers concluded

Neanderthals probably extracted the sticky stu by heating rolls of bark in a lowoxygen environment, buried below a campfire.

— underground, one from bark Because could scratch. to glue invent the “It out — must transformation the occurs of sight, procedure be based no on Patrick previous Schmidt, knowledge,” a University says of Tübingen archaeologist who led the study; through years of

R&D, Neanderthals must have innovated simpler methods, and then deliberately taught others the final technique.

“You’ve got to have a strong social network in order to pass this information along, in order to learn these things,” says

Kenyon College archaeologist

Bruce Hardy.

His point is epitomized by a bit of string, no longer than an eyelash. Using a microscope,

Hardy spotted the twisted fibers stuck on a tool wielded by Neanderthals between 41,000 and 52,000 years ago in the French cave Abri du Maras. structure makeup, Reports was yet credited discovered indeed Analysis in to published and 2020, Neanderthals. string molecular and of confirmed — the in the the Scientific bundle’s first oldest it

reverse-engineered construction: Hardy and It colleagues appears the cord’s

Neanderthals the fibrous inner harvested part of bark, bast, from a pinelike tree between late spring and early summer, when sap makes stripping easier. After the bast soaked in water for a week or two, three fiber bundles were twisted clockwise, folded in half, and resulting spun in counterclockwise, a three-ply cord.

Making string requires knowledge of numbers to group bundles, ecology to harvest bast, and physics to twist and twine. As with birch tar, transforming trees into string is not intuitive.

As Neanderthal experts taught juniors, they may have sat around the fire — chatting, imparting traditions. Details of these conversations will never be known, but the collective knowledge and strength of the social groups might, now that scientists are peering into

Neanderthal communities. B. A.

THREE FIBERS were spun together by Neanderthals to create a cord; the separate strings are colored at right to display the twists.