This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: There is even more evidence that Neanderthals were far from the simple cave dwellers we once thought them to be. The discovery of a clublike artifact and other wooden tools from an archaeological site near Barcelona, Spain, suggests they may have been skilled woodworkers.
There's no shortage of stone tools in the archaeological record. But organic materials like wood are typically harder to come by because they rot, which leaves a huge gap in our understanding of prehistoric technology. But at the Middle Paleolithic site of Abric Romaní, a team of researchers led by Palmira Saladié at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA) has documented 597 wooden specimens.
They were found in 16 archaeological layers dating from roughly 62,000 to 40,000 years ago. This isn't the first time wooden artifacts have been linked to Neanderthals. Sites in Germany, Italy and Greece have yielded wooden weapons and tools, including spears and digging sticks.
What makes Abric Romaní different is how these objects survived. Instead of wood preserved in mud, calcium carbonate deposits formed around the items, leaving detailed molds after the original wood rotted away. The researchers detail their remarkable finds in a paper published in the journal Science Advances.
Out of all the wood specimens recovered, the researchers identified 13 tools and objects that had been modified by Neanderthal hands. These include structural poles that were possibly used for shelters, possible digging sticks, two spears and a clublike object with a distinctly shaped handle and head that may have served as a weapon or heavy tool. Among the domestic items are four charred bark objects that could have been trays or containers, although their exact function is unknown.
The research team suggests they may have been used to transport food or scoop up ashes. The sheer variety of these objects sheds new light on how these early humans used the natural resources around them, in this case forests. "Although wood was predominantly used as fuel, the preservation of imprints and charred remains has revealed its use in the manufacture of a wide variety of objects and tools," commented the study authors.
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