By the time modern humans make it in Europe , Neanderthals had already made the continent their home . What ’s more , they were already adopting behaviors that would later be characteristic of humans — admit the maturation of a specialized tool still used by leather craftspeople today .
It ’s called the lissoir — and it ’s the oldest specialized bone peter ever find in Europe . Fashioned from long , flexible ribs of deer , it was likely used to process beast conceal to make them softer , tougher , shinier , and more resistant to water . Archaeologists have unwrap Neandertal tools before , but nothing quite like this .
https://gizmodo.com/more-evidence-that-neanderthals-made-jewelry-and-art-819314356
prick are considered “ specialized ” when they take advantage of particular properties , like toughness or flexibility . A gimmick like a lissoir could not have been made , say , from rock or Grant Wood . This particular pecker , because it was forge from a bone , could be turn as it was agitate onto a skin .
Fragments of four lissoirs were bump at two Neandertal site in southwesterly France , the detail of which can be found in a new PNASpaperauthored by Marie Soressi and her team .
And as noted , the design was so good that it ’s still used today . They ’re phone smoothers or burnishers , and they ’re used by leather workers to create such items as pocketbook .
Indeed , what makes this find particularly singular is that , at about 50,000 years old , the osseous tissue tools antecede the comer of Homo sapiens and the onslaught of the so - called “ replacement full stop ” which began no to begin with than 40,000 years ago ( though this figure iscontentious ) . This is a strong indication that Neanderthals invented the lissoir , rather than humans . And in fact , it ’s conceivable that humans , whofrequentlyinteractedwith Neanderthals , replicate the design from them .
https://gizmodo.com/neanderthals-may-have-mostly-died-out-before-homo-sapie-5981837
https://gizmodo.com/ancient-humans-just-couldnt-stop-having-sex-with-neande-5883187
https://gizmodo.com/when-did-humans-and-neandertals-stop-having-sex-5949304
And that ’s absolutely wild if you reckon about it . We may actually be using a technology today that was invent by Neanderthals !
“ If Neanderthals arise this type of pearl tool on their own , it is possible that modern humans then acquired this engineering from Neanderthals , ” aver Soressi in a financial statement . “ This is the first possible evidence for transmission [ of refinement ] from Neanderthals to our direct antecedent . … It might be one or perhaps even the only inheritance from Neanderthal fourth dimension that our society is still using today . ”
That tell , the researcher could not incontrovertibly rule out the possible action that modern humans make it in Europe earlier than what ’s generally live with , and that the lissoirs were developed as a result of their influence . Additionally , the discovery of one hardening of tool does not needs betoken the universe of others ; it could have been a one fourth dimension thing develop by a rather crafty Neanderthal . It ’s also possible , of course of study , that the applied science were develop by the Neanderthals and human independently .
It ’s worth take down however , that man did not root at Pech - de - l’Azé or Abri Peyrony , the location of the archaeological find .
study the total discipline at PNAS : “ Neandertals made the first specialise bone tools in Europe . ”
anthropologyArchaeologyneanderthalsScience
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