Neanderthals used stone tool tech that was once considered exclusive to Homo sapiens.

No trapped history Homo sapiens And the Neanderthals in the Levant (the area around the Mediterranean) have become even more complex. Paleoentropol ologists recently identified a tooth from the Shukba Cave northwest of Jerusalem as Nindarthal Daola. That shunk has never found a trace south of the Neanderthals, and it also connects our extinct cousins ​​with stone tooling technology, which was previously considered the only trademark. Homo sapiens.

The Levant was one of the first hominins in the field when they began to move beyond Africa, and archaeological records indicate that the initial expansion took place in a series of waves. On some sites, layers of artifacts show that members of our race lived there for a short time before being replaced by Neanderthals, and. It was a geographical crossroads, and like all such places, its story is dynamic and complex – and it can be difficult to part together from the bones and pieces of stone that lie in the back.

Often, stone tools are the best clue as to who lived and when they were on the archaeologists’ site. There are many ways to make a piece of crisp cloth useful, like a scraper or a hand ax, and archaeologists recognize different cultures based on the subtle differences between those methods and the shape of the resulting tools. One approach to toolmaking, which produces specific points of stone, is called Nubian levalois. Chipping from the core of the stone ready to produce the tool is one of the various variations on the general theme of flakes. Another variation on that theme is Mausterian technology, commonly found on Neanderthal sites in Western Europe. Nubian Levalois Tools has turned to sites from South Africa to Northeast Africa.

More recently, archaeologists have speculated that the Nubian Levalois is a trademark of our species in Africa and the Levant, while the Mauserian Neanderthals were a trademark. But Neanderthal Daola (covered by Royal Holloway, University of London and its associates by archaeologist Zimbab Blinkhorn) was buried in a layer of silt with a mixture of Mauserian and Nubian Levalois tools. “This is the first time they have been found in direct connection with Neanderthal fossils, indicating that we cannot make a simple link between this technology and. Homo sapiens, ”Said Blinkhorn.

Making a mountain out of da

Shukbah’s lone tooth, the first of which was Daola, spent much of the last century in Sir Arthur Keith’s private collection. It was eventually donated to the Natural History Museum in London, so archaeologists have recently taken a closer look. “For the most part, hominin fossils are rare, and so this was an excellent opportunity to study this discovery in more detail and open up a vast comparison to the Neanderthal population of southwest Asia,” Blinkhorn told Arsen.

Blinkhorn and his colleagues used computed tomography (CT) scans to measure the internal and external shape and structure of teeth. They compared shapes and sizes with other Neanderthals Homo sapiens Da from Southwest Asian sites. In the end, the teeth were clearly in class with Neanderthal daola.

And Neanderthal in question seems to be a small child, probably about 9 years old, just getting their first permanent teeth. The first daola is usually one of the first permanent teeth to grow, and this one showed hardly any signs. Wear, which indicates that it was brand new. So far, attempts to obtain ancient DNA from teeth have not been successful:

“The previous team has tried this, and the drill hole on the tooth image is obvious, but as far as I know this was a failure,” Blinkhorn told Arsenal.

In 1928, archaeologists excavating at Shukbah found ancient hearth and stone tools in the same layer of silt as teeth. Blinkhorn and his colleagues took a closer look at the notes of previous archaeologists and the tools they found, and found that many of them were built in the Nubian Levalois style.

Blinkhorn said, “Pictures from Shukba’s stone tool collection hinted at the presence of Nubian Lavalois Technol .G, so we reconsidered the collections for further investigation,” Blinkhorn said. “In the end, we identified many more artefacts we produced using the Nubian Lavalois method.”

Finding fossils with stone tools is relatively rare, but when it does, it connects the ancient hominins directly to the things they made and used. Archaeologists rely on those rare links to identify stone tool makers at other sites where no remains remain. Stone tool techniques associated with a particular hominin species or culture help archaeologists track how, where, and when early humans went into the world.

But Shukbah Cave Daola suggests that it really isn’t that easy. “This study … presents a timely note of caution that there are no direct links between specific hominins and certain stone tool techniques,” said Simon Blockley, co-author of the study of archaeologists at the Royal Holloway at the University of London’s Royal Lodge.

Same idea, different times and places

Blinkhorn, who specializes in stone tools, told Arsen that Neanderthals may have invented the Nubian Lavalois method on their own, different from groups. H. Sapiens Who also invented technology at different times and places. If that’s true, it’s similar to how human cultures around the world have come up independently on similar solutions to other technological challenges, from pyramids to bows and arrows to fishing.

“Within Africa, there is evidence for multiple, independent innovations in the Nubian Levalois Technologies of Genie. His identity in South Africa seems to be disconnected from his appearance in North / East Africa, ”Blinkhorn told Arsen. “Given the general background to the use of other Levalois methods, the simplest explanation is that Neanderthals also developed Nubian Levalois methods separately.

Other scenarios are also possible, of course, given the overlapping and blending of hominin species in Levant at the time. As with archeology, additional evidence is needed to draw a more detailed conclusion.

Scientific Reports, 2021 DOI: 10.1038 / s41598-001-822576 (About DOI).