A team of scientists led by Dr Luc Doyon of the University of Montreal has unearthed a rare prehistoric bone tool at the Grotte du Bison in Burgundy.
The 55,000-year-old bone tool found in France. Image credit: Maurice Hardy et al.
The bone tool in question is believed to have been made by Neanderthals from a reindeer bone circa 55,000 years ago.
“This is the first time a multi-purpose bone tool from this period has been discovered,” said Dr Doyon, who is the senior author of a paper published in the journal Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française (in French).
“It proves that Neanderthals were able to understand the mechanical properties of bone and knew how to use it to make tools, abilities usually attributed to our species, Homo sapiens.”
“The production of bone tools by Neanderthals is open to debate. For much of the 20th century, scientists were reluctant to recognize the ability of this species to incorporate materials like bone into their technological know-how and likewise their ability to master the techniques needed to work bone. However, over the past two decades, many clues indicate the use of hard materials from animals by Neanderthals,” Dr Doyon said.
“Our discovery is an additional indicator of bone work by Neanderthals and helps put into question the linear view of the evolution of human behavior.”
Marks observed on the tool allow scientists to trace its history. Obtaining bones for the manufacture of tools was not the primary motivation for Neanderthals hunting – above all, they hunted to obtain the rich energy provided by meat and marrow.
Evidence of meat butchering and bone fracturing to extract marrow are evident. Percussion marks suggest the use of the bone fragment for carved sharpening the cutting edges of stone tools.
Finally, chipping and a significant polish show the use of the bone as a scraper.
“The presence of this tool at a context where stone tools are abundant suggests an opportunistic choice of the bone fragment and its intentional modification into a tool by Neanderthals,” Dr Doyon said.
“It was long thought that before Homo sapiens, other species did not have the cognitive ability to produce this type of artifact.”
“This discovery reduces the presumed gap between the two species and prevents us from saying that one was technically superior to the other.”
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