Neanderthal bone tools: 83 found among 10,000 fragments

A group of European researchers led by Monica Mărgărit of Valahia University of Târgoviște analyzed more than 10,000 animal bone fragments from the Abri 122/1200 site in central Romania, Kursor reports. Traces of deliberate use were found on 83 of them cursorinfo.co.il. That is less than 1% of a collection that had been kept in museum storage for decades cursorinfo.co.il.

The site and the missing bone tools

The site lies among the limestone cliffs of the Vârghiș gorge. The rock shelter was used for tens of thousands of years, starting in the Paleolithic, about 230 thousand years ago cursorinfo.co.il. Excavations have yielded more than a thousand stone artifacts made with complex flaking techniques, including the Levallois method cursorinfo.co.il.

No bone tools had been identified there, although they are regularly found at comparable sites across Eurasia cursorinfo.co.il. The researchers set out to check whether Neanderthals in the region really neglected bone, or whether the gap came from the limitations of earlier fieldwork methods cursorinfo.co.il.

What the microscopic analysis showed

Telling human modification from natural damage is difficult: cracks, predator tooth marks and the action of water can all mimic it. The team studied the pattern of scratches, polish and edge rounding and compared them with specially made experimental analogues cursorinfo.co.il.

Some of the bones served as retouchers, used to trim and correct flakes on stone knives and scrapers cursorinfo.co.il. Others were used to work soft materials such as hides or plant fibers cursorinfo.co.il. The archaeologists also identified wedge-shaped tools and two percussion tools resembling hammers cursorinfo.co.il.

The reason these artifacts went unnoticed was minimal modification. Neanderthals rarely spent time giving bone a standardized shape. They chose splinters of suitable size and used them for immediate tasks cursorinfo.co.il. Ștefan Vasile, a lecturer at the University of Bucharest, noted that archaeologists have often focused on large, intact bones and overlooked small fragments cursorinfo.co.il.

According to the report, the finding links the Romanian Carpathians with sites of Neanderthal bone working from France and Spain to the Altai region of Siberia cursorinfo.co.il.

Romania's Abri 122/1200 site: 83 Neanderthal bone tools found among 10,000 fragments

The site and the missing bone tools

What the microscopic analysis showed

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