As homo sapiens, we often consider ourselves to be the most intelligent of humanity. But that doesn’t mean our species was the first to discover everything. Neanderthals seem to have discovered how to manufacture synthetic materials long before we did.
Neanderthal tools may seem relatively simple, but new research shows that: Homo neanderthalensis About 200,000 years ago, they devised a way to bond them together by producing an adhesive derived from birch tar, but it was difficult. This ancient instant glue glued bones and stones to wood, was waterproof and did not decompose. Tar was also used 100,000 years before modern humans invented synthetic materials.
transformation
A research team from the Eberhard-Karls University of Tübingen and other German institutions has found evidence that the glue is more than just the original tar after studying ancient tools that carry the glue residue. It was converted in some way. This raises the question of what the change had to do with it.
To find out how Neanderthals converted birch tar into glue, the researchers tried several different processing methods. The suspicion that the tar originated directly from birch trees did not hold up, as birch trees do not secrete anything that acts as a glue. So what was the process?
Each technology tested used only materials that Neanderthals would have had access to. Condensation is the simplest technique of burning birch bark on cobblestones and allowing the tar to condense onto the stone, and there is not much thought about burning bark above ground other than lighting a fire.
Other methods included recipes that heated the bark after it was placed underground, rather than actually burning it. Two of these methods involved burying rolls of bark in embers and heating them to produce tar. A third method is to distill the tar. Since there was no pottery in the Stone Age, deposits formed upper and lower structures to hold the bark, which was then heated by fire. Distilled tar slowly drips from the upper structure into the lower structure.
underground
All of the resulting tars were subjected to chemical and molecular analysis, as well as micro-CT scans, to determine which ones were the closest to actual Neanderthal tool residues. The tar synthesized underground was the closest to the original remnants of the artifact.
“[Neanderthals] We distilled the tar in an underground environment that was intentionally created to restrict the flow of oxygen and be invisible during the process,” the researchers wrote.. “This degree of complexity cannot be thought of as spontaneously invented.”
There was one piece of evidence that highlighted the underground method. Only subterranean tars contained large amounts of suberin, a polymer found in birch bark, which was also prominent in remains of ancient tools. The tar produced by burning bark above ground contained little suberin.
“Our results suggest that Neanderthals invented or developed this process based on earlier, simpler methods, and it is one of the clearest indicators of cumulative cultural evolution during the European Middle Paleolithic.” ,” the researchers said in their paper. study. Although it is possible that homo sapiens It may have taught Neanderthals how to make birch tar, but no evidence has been found for it, although it is known that the species interbred redundantly. Researchers believe that Neanderthals were most likely more advanced than many thought. Perhaps “Neanderthal” should no longer be used as an insult.
Archeology and Anthropology, 2023. DOIs: 10.1007/s12520-023-01789-2 (About DOIs).
Elizabeth Laine is a writing creature. Her work has been featured in SYFY WIRE, Space.com, Live Science, Grunge, Den of Geek and Forbidden Futures. When she’s not writing, she transforms, paints, and cosplays characters no one has heard of. Follow her on her Twitter @quothravenrayne.
