How sapiens were Neanderthals?: Very. new info (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, April 09, 2020, 21:47 (1480 days ago) @ David Turell

They could make string:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stone-age-string-strengthens-case-for-neande...

"In the new study, published today in Scientific Reports, Hardy and his co-authors describe a 6.2-millimeter-long fragment of string that their team found at the same rock shelter —in a layer dated to between 52,000 and 41,000 years ago, when Neandertals occupied the site. Analyses of the fragment show that it is made of fibers that were probably harvested from the inner bark of a conifer tree. The fibers were twisted clockwise to form yarn, and then three lengths of the yarn were twisted in the opposite direction to make string.

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"Exactly what the string was used for is uncertain. But it was found adhering to a sharp-edged stone flake, leading the authors to suggest that it might have been applied to attach the flake to a handle of some sort. Alternatively, they suppose, the string might have had nothing to do with the stone flake and instead have been part of a net or bag.

"Specific usage aside, the manufacture of the string attests to cognitive sophistication in Neandertals, Hardy and his colleagues contend. Harvesting the fibers would have required intimate knowledge of the growth and seasonality of the trees. And producing string after one has the raw material is itself mentally demanding, requiring the maker to keep track of multiple, sequential operations at the same time.

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"Outside researchers are intrigued by the new work. “I’m not 100 percent convinced” that the find is, in fact, a piece of string, says archaeologist Marie Soressi of Leiden University in the Netherlands, noting that she finds the photographs that accompany the team’s paper “difficult to understand.” But the new work constitutes “by far the best evidence” that the Neandertals at Abri du Maras made string, she says."

Comment: Neanderthals are getting smarter and smarter.