Were Adhesives Used by Neanderthals? Study Identifies Resonant Evidence

Humans are superior to other animals in many aspects due to their greater IQ and cognitive capacities. But can we say the same of our evolutionary forebears? Additionally, the Neanderthals, who lived between 130,000 and 40,000 years ago, are said to be our forefathers. According to recent studies, they employed glue to build tools and may have been more clever than previously believed.

Researchers have shown that a multi-component adhesive held the stone tools used by Neanderthals together. These findings suggest that the predecessors of modern humans were more complex intellectually and culturally than previously thought. They also provide the earliest evidence of a sophisticated adhesive in Europe.

The study, which was published in the journal Science Advances, included researchers from New York University, the University of Tübingen, and the National Museums in Berlin. The team doing the investigation revisited previous discoveries from Le Moustier, a French archeological site found in the early 1900s.

Patrick Schmidt from the Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology department at the University of Tübingen and Ewa Dutkiewicz from the Museum of Prehistory and Early History at the National Museums in Berlin served as the team’s leaders. The Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Berlin is home to the stone tools from Le Moustier, which were used by Neanderthals between 120,000 and 40,000 years ago during the Middle Palaeolithic era of the Mousterian. These items have never previously undergone a detailed analysis. During an internal review of the collection, the instruments were found again and their scientific importance determined.

When examined more closely, they turned out to be an adhesive made mostly of ocher and asphalt, with some other ingredients. This stuff did a decent job of holding the stone tools together. The instruments showed that they had all been created using the same adhesive substance when examined under a microscope.

Signs of their distinct honing and polishing point to both the potential uses for these tools and the origins of early human technological advancement. This indicates that Neanderthals were developing mental abilities similar to those of contemporary people. Scientists predict that this discovery will drastically change how human development has historically occurred.