Discoveries

June 19, 2023

Neanderthal Science

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A new paper suggested that the early modern humans – Homo sapiens – were not the inventors of an important substance used during prehistoric times, Science Alert reported.

Scientists recently analyzed artifacts created by our close relatives, the Neanderthals, using birch tar. The special substance is a sticky black goo extracted from the bark of birch trees, using heat.

Birch tar was known for its various adhesive, water-repellent, and even antimicrobial properties. Early humans in Europe would use it to bind parts of their tools together.

Neanderthals also used the tar, but scholars have been divided on whether they purposefully produced it or accidentally came across it after burning some birch bark.

The new findings determined that the extinct hominids were sophisticated inventors: The team studied the artifacts’ chemistry and found that the tar was deprived of oxygen during its formation.

Following a series of experiments, they determined that the Neanderthals used a method that burned birch bark underground in order to produce the sticky substance. Researchers explained that the production would require specific and precise knowledge that the hominids mastered through trial and error.

They added that if Neanderthals were creating birch tar, they were making it as far back as 200,000 years ago – preceding any evidence of H. sapiens doing the same by 100,000 years.

The study is another example that documents the “advanced technology, forward planning, and cultural capacity in Neanderthals.”

This story originally appeared in the June 19, 2023 newsletter, Hot Stuff.