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According to the researchers, the ability to make multicomponent adhesives could be the first expression of modern cognitive processes that are still active today.
Liquid bitumen and ocher earth pigment before mixing. Credit: Patrick Schmidt
Neanderthals were probably intelligent engineers. Our predecessors living in France devised their own multicomponent glue, not unlike those made by modern humans in Africa, according to a new study published in Scientific advances.
The glue was used as a handle to manipulate various stone tools, such as scrapers, flakes, and blades. It was mainly composed of ocher and bitumen. While ocher is a natural earth pigment, bitumen is a component of asphalt and can be produced from crude oil, but is also found naturally in soil.
“This is the first discovery of this type of composite (multicomponent) adhesive manufactured by Neanderthals. There are known composite adhesives in Africa, where they date back 60 to 70 kilos per year (one thousand years),” said Patrick Schmidt of the University of Tübingen. With feet on the ground. “This is roughly contemporary or maybe a little older,” she added.
The ability to produce multicomponent adhesives could be the first expression of modern cognitive processes that are still active today, Schmidt explained.
An earlier study showed that Neanderthals used distillation (to separate the components of a liquid mixture through selective evaporation and condensation) to make sticky handles from birch tar, a sticky substance produced from the bark of birch trees.
In this new study, Neanderthals produced a new and suitable material by mixing different components. “What this means is that they acted as the first engineers who created materials according to their needs,” Schmidt said.
These findings are based on an analysis of stone tools used by Neanderthals during the Middle Paleolithic, between 120,000 and 40,000 years ago. Recovered from Le Moustier, an important archaeological and paleoanthropological site in southwestern France, they are now housed in the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Berlin.
The tools were rediscovered during an internal review of the collection and their scientific value was recognized. According to the study, being individually wrapped and untouched since the 1960s, the organic substances that make up the adhesive were preserved very well.
The analysis showed that the ocher content in the glue was more than 50 percent, which baffled the scientists. This is because bitumen loses its adhesive properties when mixed with large proportions of ocher.
Further analysis revealed that liquid bitumen makes the adhesive malleable when 55 percent ocher is used. According to the researchers, the mixture was sticky enough to stay stuck to the tool, but did not stick to hands, making it a suitable handle material.
These findings, he added, suggest that early Homo sapiens in Africa and Neanderthals in Europe had similar thought patterns.
What further supports this theory is that these materials used in the adhesive probably came from different regions that were far apart from each other. This meant that our ancestors put a lot of effort, planning, and a specific approach into getting them.
The study does not confirm with 100 percent certainty that Neanderthals developed stone tools. “Neanderthal skeletons from Le Moustier were found in the lower shelter (our artifacts were found in the upper shelter). At the same time, there are early incursions of Homo sapiens in the south of France, so scientific rigor requires that we also discuss the possible implications of the pieces if they were made by Homo sapiens,” Schmidt added.
“Taking into account the general context of the finds, we assume that this adhesive material was manufactured by Neanderthals,” says Ewa Dutkiewicz of the Museum of Prehistory and Ancient History at the National Museums in Berlin in a statement.
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