Neanderthals were able to process natural fibers. A capacity that, until now, was believed to belong only to the Sapiens species.
TikTok's viral trick to preserve avocado is dangerousI Neanderthal they reveal much more than a people dedicated only to hunting and wars: a discovery made by an international team of researchers indicates that this ancient people was also able to work natural fibers. A capacity that, until now, was believed to belong only to the Sapiens species.
In recent times we are witnessing a real "rehabilitation of the Neanderthal people", who disappeared from the Earth about 40.000 years ago and forerunner of the modern Homo Sapiens, with whom, however, he shared part of his existence but which may not have determined his extinction.
The common opinion, at least until recently, portrayed the Neanderthals as a warrior and crude people, devoted almost exclusively to hunting. But this is not the case: he was the inventor of rock painting, he was a lover of the sea (he probably bathed in our Gaeta) and today we discover how he was able to working natural fibers, a skill believed to have been learned only by the Sapiens.
The revenge of Neanderthal man: he was the inventor of rock painting (and not the Sapiens)
Bruce Hardy of Kenyon College in Gambier, in the United States, and colleagues of an international collaboration have in fact found at the site of Abri du Maras, in France, a fragment of rope six millimeters long, dating back to 41.000-52.000 years ago (Neanderthal era) , consisting of three bundles of fibers intertwined with each other, and they believe that these were obtained from the inner bark of a tree (perhaps a conifer).
The fibers in turn adhere to a thin stone instrument 60 millimeters long: scientists suggest that the string was wrapped around the instrument like a handle or was part of a net or bag containing the instrument. Which would indicate the ability of man to extract the fiber to then work it.
©Scientific Reports
In fact, to obtain natural fibers so intertwined the Neanderthals had to have different skills and knowledge: first of all where to find the raw material, then a thorough knowledge of the trees most useful for the purpose, but also of their growth and seasonality: the fibers are in fact easier to detach from the inner part of the bark in spring.
But why extract them without the capacity for further transformation? In fact, experts are convinced that, once the weaving technique was acquired, the yarn was the basis for producing ropes, clothes, baskets, carpets, fishing nets or even boats, as is observed in almost all traditional or archaic cultures.
"Individual fibers intertwined on stone tools from Abri du Maras led in the past to the hypothesis of Neanderthal string production, but conclusive evidence was lacking," the researchers write. Here we show direct evidence of fiber technology ”.
And it doesn't stop there. Because, however rudimentary, basic productions imply a minimum of mathematical and technical knowledge, to create the filaments, weave them and create a useful rope for the intended purposes.
Other than a warrior people! Neanderthals spent time on the beach and bathed in Gaeta
Once again we discover that Sapiens is not the most intelligent and developed being on the planet (and not even now, as too many still think).
The work was published in Scientific Reports.
Sources: Land Sciences / Scientific Reports
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