PREHISTORIC INDUSTRIALIZATION
Katie Hunt, CNN
Fri, July 4, 2025
The archaeological site in Germany was excavated from 2004 to 2009. - Roebroeks/Leiden University
Stone Age humans living by a lake in what’s now Germany systematically processed animal carcasses for fatty nutrients — essentially running what scientists describe as a “fat factory” to boil bones on a vast scale, according to new research.
Archaeologists uncovered the factory by analyzing some 120,000 bone fragments and 16,000 flint tools unearthed over several years at a site known as Neumark-Nord, south of the city of Halle, they reported in a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Excavators found the artifacts alongside evidence of fire use.
The researchers believe that Neanderthals, an extinct species of human known to have lived in that area as far back as 125,000 years ago, smashed the marrow-rich bones into fragments with stone hammers, then boiled them for several hours to extract the fat, which floats to the surface and can be skimmed off upon cooling.
Since this feat would have involved planning hunts, transporting and storing carcasses beyond immediate food needs, and rendering the fat in an area designated specially for the task, the finding helps paint a picture of the group’s organization, strategy and deeply honed survival skills.
“This attitude that Neanderthals were dumb — this is another data point that proves otherwise,” said Wil Roebroeks, study coauthor and professor of Paleolithic archaeology at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
A string of archaeological discoveries in recent decades have showed that Neanderthals were smarter than their original brutish stereotype might suggest. The ancient humans lived across Eurasia and disappeared 40,000 years ago, and previous studies have found they made yarn and glue, engraved bones and cave walls, and assembled jewelry from eagle talons.
Details in the new research suggest that Neanderthals may have been unexpectedly sophisticated in their approach to nutrition, too.
Researchers believe that Neanderthals smashed animal bones into fragments before boiling them to extract the nutrients. - Kindler/LEIZA-Monrepos
Threat of protein poisoning
The Neanderthals living at the German site over a 300-year period also clearly understood the nutritional value of the bone grease they produced, according to the study
A small amount of fat is an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet. The substance was even more essential for hunter-gatherers, such as Neanderthals, who likely depended heavily on animal foods.
A diet dominated by lean meat and deficient in fatty acids can lead to a debilitating and sometimes lethal form of malnutrition, in which the capacity of liver enzymes to break down the protein and get rid of excess nitrogen is impaired, the researchers noted in their paper. Known today as protein poisoning, the condition earned a reputation among early European explorers of North America as “rabbit poisoning” or “mal de caribou.”
Hunter-gatherers such as Neanderthals, with average body weights between 50 kilograms and 80 kilograms (110 pounds and 175 pounds), would have had to keep their consumption of dietary protein below 300 grams (about 10 ounces) per day to avoid the condition. That amounts to around 1,200 calories — a level of intake far short of daily energy needs, according to the research. As a result, the Neanderthals likely needed to source the remaining calories from a nonprotein source, either fat or carbohydrate.
Cuts of meat from animal muscle contain very little fat, making bones — which contain marrow and other fatty tissue even when an animal is malnourished — a more important resource.
The researchers discovered that the overwhelming majority of remains at the site came from 172 individual large animals, including horses, deer and aurochs, large cow-like creatures that are now extinct. Neanderthals had selected the longest bones that would have contained the most marrow, the study found.
An AI generated impression of what the fat factory site may have looked like 125,000 years ago. - Scherjon/LEIZA-Monrepos
A dash of acorn, a pinch of sloe plum
Exactly how the Neanderthals processed the bones isn’t clear, according to the study authors. The ancient humans likely fashioned containers or pots from birch bark, animal skins or other body parts such as stomach linings, filling them with water and hanging them over a fire, Roebroeks said.
Neanderthals could have consumed the fat they produced as a “greasy broth” to which plants may have been added for flavor as well as nutritional value, suggested study coauthor Geoff Smith, a senior researcher in zooarchaeology at the University of Reading. The charred remains of hazelnut, acorn and sloe plum were also found during the excavations, he noted.
“These weren’t simple hunter-gatherers just getting by day to day — they were master planners who could look ahead, organise complex tasks, and squeeze every last calorie from their environment,” Smith said.
The findings are “exciting,” according to Ludovic Slimak, an archaeologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France. Slimak wasn’t involved in the study.
“They finally offer clear archaeological confirmation of what many of us had long suspected: that Neanderthals not only valued within-bone lipids but developed specific strategies to extract and process them,” said Slimak, who is the author of the “The Last Neanderthal,” which will be published in English later this year.
“This aligns closely with the broader archaeological record, which shows Neanderthals as highly skilled big-game hunters with a refined sense of ecological adaptation,” he added.
The Neumark-Nord site is “the best example yet of bone-grease rendering,” from this period of the Stone Age, said Bruce Hardy, the J. Kenneth Smail Professor of Anthropology at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Hardy also was not involved in the research.
“The combination of evidence presented here at Neumark-Nord is impressive,” Hardy said. “It may well represent the smoldering gun, or simmering bone broth, of Neanderthal bone-grease rendering.”
CNN.com
Neanderthal DNA may refute 65,000-year-old date for human occupation in Australia, but not all experts are convinced
Kristina Killgrove
Thu, July 3, 2025
LIVE SCIENCE
Aboriginal art at Ubirr, a rock formation in the Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. | Credit: Alamy
Humans did not arrive in Australia 65,000 years ago, and likely didn't reach the land down under until around 50,000 years ago, a controversial new paper reports.
The reasoning behind the finding is that modern humans didn't mate with Neanderthals until around 50,000 years ago, but Indigenous Australians have a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA. So, the first Australians could not have arrived until after humans mated with Neanderthals.
But we can't yet rule out archaeological evidence that places humans on the continent much earlier than genetic models do, other experts say.
In a research report published Sunday (June 29) in the journal Archaeology in Oceania, archaeologists Jim Allen of La Trobe University in Australia and James O'Connell of the University of Utah used recently published Neanderthal DNA evidence to suggest that Australia was not occupied by humans until 50,000 years ago.
Allen and O'Connell's new theory is based on two recent DNA studies that revealed Neanderthals and humans likely interbred in Europe during one long "pulse" between 50,500 and 43,500 years ago. Since all living humans outside Africa have at least 2% Neanderthal DNA, including Indigenous Australians, this means the earliest Homo sapiens in Australia had some Neanderthal roots — and those roots can't go back much earlier than 50,000 years ago.
Researchers interested in the earliest humans in Australia have focused primarily on archaeological sites in southeast Asia and Oceania, broadly across the modern borders of Indonesia, Australia and various islands, also known as the paleocontinent Sahul.
"The initial colonization of Sahul is important because it occurs in the Late Pleistocene [129,000 to 11,700 years ago], which is coincident with a major expansion in the distribution of anatomically modern human populations out of Africa," O'Connell told Live Science.
Archaeological evidence of human occupation in Sahul largely lines up with the genetic evidence, Allen and O'Connell wrote in their study. All archaeological sites except one have been dated to between 43,000 and 54,000 years ago, meaning humans could have mixed with Neanderthals in Eurasia and then headed east.
Related: Australia's oldest rock painting is an anatomically accurate kangaroo
Aboriginal art at Ubirr, a rock formation in the Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. | Credit: Alamy
Humans did not arrive in Australia 65,000 years ago, and likely didn't reach the land down under until around 50,000 years ago, a controversial new paper reports.
The reasoning behind the finding is that modern humans didn't mate with Neanderthals until around 50,000 years ago, but Indigenous Australians have a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA. So, the first Australians could not have arrived until after humans mated with Neanderthals.
But we can't yet rule out archaeological evidence that places humans on the continent much earlier than genetic models do, other experts say.
In a research report published Sunday (June 29) in the journal Archaeology in Oceania, archaeologists Jim Allen of La Trobe University in Australia and James O'Connell of the University of Utah used recently published Neanderthal DNA evidence to suggest that Australia was not occupied by humans until 50,000 years ago.
Allen and O'Connell's new theory is based on two recent DNA studies that revealed Neanderthals and humans likely interbred in Europe during one long "pulse" between 50,500 and 43,500 years ago. Since all living humans outside Africa have at least 2% Neanderthal DNA, including Indigenous Australians, this means the earliest Homo sapiens in Australia had some Neanderthal roots — and those roots can't go back much earlier than 50,000 years ago.
Researchers interested in the earliest humans in Australia have focused primarily on archaeological sites in southeast Asia and Oceania, broadly across the modern borders of Indonesia, Australia and various islands, also known as the paleocontinent Sahul.
"The initial colonization of Sahul is important because it occurs in the Late Pleistocene [129,000 to 11,700 years ago], which is coincident with a major expansion in the distribution of anatomically modern human populations out of Africa," O'Connell told Live Science.
Archaeological evidence of human occupation in Sahul largely lines up with the genetic evidence, Allen and O'Connell wrote in their study. All archaeological sites except one have been dated to between 43,000 and 54,000 years ago, meaning humans could have mixed with Neanderthals in Eurasia and then headed east.
Related: Australia's oldest rock painting is an anatomically accurate kangaroo
A map of what Australia and Pacific Islands may have looked like during the last ice age. | Credit: Alamy
Archaeology versus genetics
But archaeological evidence at one site called Madjedbebe in the far north of Australia's Northern Territory suggests the area may have been occupied much earlier — at least 65,000 years ago.
Archaeologists recovered human-made artifacts, including stone tools and ocher "crayons," from the Madjedbebe rock shelter and published their findings in a 2017 study. One difficulty in dating the artifacts, however, was the copious amount of sand on the floor of the rock shelter, which can move easily and cause artifacts to fall farther down, making them look older than they are.
Although the research team took steps to counteract this issue and landed on a 65,000-year-old date, Madjedbebe's occupation timing is still uncertain because it is by far the oldest archaeological site in Australia, making it an outlier.
"It doesn't necessarily mean that the data is wrong," O'Connell said, "but it does mean that if the data is right, the people responsible for Madjedbebe are not ancestral to any significant degree to modern Sahul populations."
But Allen and O'Connell's new theory relies heavily on assumptions in the DNA model and in early human behaviors, several researchers suggested in a commentary, also published Sunday in Archaeology in Oceania.
"Both archaeological and molecular dating of Sahul are still in an early stage of development," wrote Peter Veth, an archaeologist at the University of Western Australia, so "can we rely on current assumptions underlying these molecular clocks to test Australian archaeological evidence?"
Adam Brumm, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia, wrote that Southeast Asian archaeological sites, such as on Sulawesi in Indonesia, actually have compelling evidence for early rock art that dates back to at least 51,200 years ago.
"Remembering that we only have minimum ages for rock art, I think there is a very real possibility that the people who created the earliest artworks from Sulawesi were a part of the same broader cultural group that went on to colonise Sahul some 65,000 years ago," Brumm wrote.
O'Connell and Allen, though, think that this sort of artwork, intensive seafaring and the creation of complex artifacts are all connected to a shift in human behavior that began around 50,000 years ago, sometimes called the Paleolithic Revolution. In a narrow window of time, they wrote, these early humans "began the process of displacing archaic hominins and occupying diverse environments in Europe and Asia."
Related: When did modern humans reach each of the 7 continents?
But in their commentary, archaeological scientists Huw Groucutt and Eleanor Scerri questioned this idea of a "revolution" in behavior that occurred around the time humans met Neanderthals.
A picture taken on September 6, 2021 shows the reconstruction of the face of the oldest Neanderthal found in the Netherlands, nicknamed Krijn, on display at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden.
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"In Africa, decades of research now clearly show the presence of complex behaviours tens of thousands of years earlier than the supposed revolution, and arguably occurring in a gradual and piecemeal fashion," Groucutt and Scerri wrote.
While genetic and archaeological evidence are currently at odds, it is important to remember that there are major gaps in both data sets, meaning there is no strong evidence favoring either the pre- or post-50,000 year date for the first occupation of Sahul, Groucutt and Scerri wrote.
But even though archaeological evidence does not currently refute Allen and O'Connell's theory, Brumm wrote, "I think this evidence is coming, however, and it will have big implications for our understanding of ancient Sahul."
Oldest wooden tools unearthed in East Asia show that ancient humans made planned trips to dig up edible plants
Sascha Pare
Fri, July 4, 2025
The tools were preserved thanks to oxygen-poor clay sediments. | Credit: Bo Li
"The tools show a level of planning and craftsmanship that challenges the notion that East Asian hominins were technologically conservative," Li said in the statement. This idea is rooted in previous discoveries in East Asia of stone tools that seemed "primitive" in comparison to tools found in western Eurasia and Africa, according to the study.
The researchers dated the tools using a technique developed by Li that uses infrared luminescence and another method called electron spin resonance, which measures a material’s age through the number of electrons trapped inside its crystal defects due to exposure to natural radiation. Both produced estimates indicating that the wooden tools were between 250,000 and 361,000 years old.
The plant remains on the tools have not been identified because their decomposition is too advanced, but other plant remains at Gantangqing indicate that early humans there ate berries, pine nuts, hazelnuts, kiwi fruit and aquatic tubers, according to the study.
"The discovery challenges previous assumptions about early human adaptation," Li said in the statement. "While contemporary European sites (like Schöningen in Germany) focused on hunting large mammals, Gantangqing reveals a unique plant-based survival strategy."
Rare 300,000-year-old wooden tools found in China reveal diet secrets of early humans
Vishwam Sankaran
Fri, July 4, 2025
Rare 300,000-year-old wooden tools found in China reveal diet secrets of early humans
A trove of rare 300,000-year-old wooden tools unearthed in south-west China reveals that early humans in the region may have relied heavily on underground plants like roots and tubers for sustenance.
The findings, published on Thursday in the journal Science, throw light on the advanced cognitive skills of early human ancestors in East Asia and their lives, diet, and environment.
This rare find was made due to the wooden tools being preserved in oxygen-deprived clay sediments at the archaeological lakeshore site of Gantangqing in Jiangchuan, Yunnan province.
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Researchers also found nearly 1,000 organic remains among the sediments.
Using advanced techniques, scientists dated the uncovered remains to establish the age of the tools between 250,000-350,000 years old.
The “extremely rare” wooden tools, which appear in varieties of forms and functions, were extracted from layers dating to around 300,000 years old, scientists say.
Until now, only two previously known discoveries have been made of wooden tools from this period – one in Europe and one in Africa.
Wooden tools from Gantangqing (Liu et al./Science)
Two of the newly uncovered sticks appeared similar to those found at Italy’s Poggetti Vecchi site, dating to 171,000 years old.
Four unique hook-shaped tools were also uncovered and were likely used for cutting roots, scientists say.
Researchers also found signs of deliberate polishing on the wooden tools, scraping marks and soil residues on the tool edges, indicating they were used for digging underground plants such as tubers and roots.
“The wooden implements include digging sticks and small, complete, hand-held pointed tools,” scientists wrote.
Based on these findings, scientists suspect these East Asian human ancestors likely followed a plant-based diet, with evidence of pine nuts, hazelnuts, kiwi fruit and aquatic tubers found at the site.
In comparison, the wooden tools uncovered in Europe and Africa were hunting implements, spears, and spear tips.
“The discovery challenges previous assumptions about early human adaptation. While contemporary European sites (like Schöningen in Germany) focused on hunting large mammals, Gantangqing reveals a unique plant-based survival strategy in the subtropics,” said archaeologist Bo Li, a co-author of the study.
“The diversity and sophistication of the wooden tools also fill a significant gap in the archaeological record, as pre-100,000-year-old wooden tools are extremely rare outside Africa and Western Eurasia,” Dr Li said.
The discovery reveals that wooden tools were in use by early humans living in a much wider range across the globe.
Sascha Pare
Fri, July 4, 2025
LIVE SCIENCE
Archaeologists have unearthed the oldest wooden tools ever found in East Asia.
Archaeologists have unearthed the oldest wooden tools ever found in East Asia.
| Credit: Bo Li
Archaeologists have discovered 35 wooden tools from the Old Stone Age in China which they say show impressive craftsmanship, advanced cognitive skills and offer new insights into what ancient humans might have eaten.
The 300,000-year-old tools are the oldest wooden artifacts ever documented in East Asia, according to a study published Thursday (July 3) in the journal Science. They include digging sticks made of pine and hardwood, hooks for cutting roots and small, pointed implements for extracting edible plants from the ground.
"This discovery is exceptional because it preserves a moment in time when early humans were using sophisticated wooden tools to harvest underground food resources," study lead author Bo Li, a professor in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences at the University of Wollongong Australia, said in a statement.
The tools date to the early Paleolithic period, also known as the Old Stone Age (3.3 million to 300,000 years ago). Wooden artifacts from this time are extremely rare due to organic decomposition, and only a handful of archaeological sites have yielded similar objects, according to the new study. But most of these objects, including spears from Schöningen in Germany, were designed for hunting — these newfound tools were made for digging.
Researchers found the tools buried in oxygen-poor clay sediments on the shores of an ancient lake in Gantangqing, an archaeological site in southwestern China’s Yunnan province. The sediments preserved deliberate polishing and scraping marks on the tools, as well as plant and soil remains on some of the edges that gave researchers clues about the tools' function.
Related: Pfyn culture flint tool: World's oldest known 'Swiss Army' knife
"Our results suggest that hominins at Gantangqing made strategic utilization of lakeshore food resources," the researchers wrote in the study. "They made planned visits to the lakeshore and brought with them fabricated tools of selected wood for exploiting underground tubers, rhizomes, or corms."
Such planned visits show that 300,000 years ago, human ancestors in East Asia were crafting and using tools for specific purposes, demonstrating considerable foresight and intention, the researchers wrote. The artifacts also suggest that these early humans had a good understanding of which plants and parts of plants were edible, the researchers noted.
Archaeologists have discovered 35 wooden tools from the Old Stone Age in China which they say show impressive craftsmanship, advanced cognitive skills and offer new insights into what ancient humans might have eaten.
The 300,000-year-old tools are the oldest wooden artifacts ever documented in East Asia, according to a study published Thursday (July 3) in the journal Science. They include digging sticks made of pine and hardwood, hooks for cutting roots and small, pointed implements for extracting edible plants from the ground.
"This discovery is exceptional because it preserves a moment in time when early humans were using sophisticated wooden tools to harvest underground food resources," study lead author Bo Li, a professor in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences at the University of Wollongong Australia, said in a statement.
The tools date to the early Paleolithic period, also known as the Old Stone Age (3.3 million to 300,000 years ago). Wooden artifacts from this time are extremely rare due to organic decomposition, and only a handful of archaeological sites have yielded similar objects, according to the new study. But most of these objects, including spears from Schöningen in Germany, were designed for hunting — these newfound tools were made for digging.
Researchers found the tools buried in oxygen-poor clay sediments on the shores of an ancient lake in Gantangqing, an archaeological site in southwestern China’s Yunnan province. The sediments preserved deliberate polishing and scraping marks on the tools, as well as plant and soil remains on some of the edges that gave researchers clues about the tools' function.
Related: Pfyn culture flint tool: World's oldest known 'Swiss Army' knife
"Our results suggest that hominins at Gantangqing made strategic utilization of lakeshore food resources," the researchers wrote in the study. "They made planned visits to the lakeshore and brought with them fabricated tools of selected wood for exploiting underground tubers, rhizomes, or corms."
Such planned visits show that 300,000 years ago, human ancestors in East Asia were crafting and using tools for specific purposes, demonstrating considerable foresight and intention, the researchers wrote. The artifacts also suggest that these early humans had a good understanding of which plants and parts of plants were edible, the researchers noted.
The tools were preserved thanks to oxygen-poor clay sediments. | Credit: Bo Li
"The tools show a level of planning and craftsmanship that challenges the notion that East Asian hominins were technologically conservative," Li said in the statement. This idea is rooted in previous discoveries in East Asia of stone tools that seemed "primitive" in comparison to tools found in western Eurasia and Africa, according to the study.
The researchers dated the tools using a technique developed by Li that uses infrared luminescence and another method called electron spin resonance, which measures a material’s age through the number of electrons trapped inside its crystal defects due to exposure to natural radiation. Both produced estimates indicating that the wooden tools were between 250,000 and 361,000 years old.
The plant remains on the tools have not been identified because their decomposition is too advanced, but other plant remains at Gantangqing indicate that early humans there ate berries, pine nuts, hazelnuts, kiwi fruit and aquatic tubers, according to the study.
"The discovery challenges previous assumptions about early human adaptation," Li said in the statement. "While contemporary European sites (like Schöningen in Germany) focused on hunting large mammals, Gantangqing reveals a unique plant-based survival strategy."
Rare 300,000-year-old wooden tools found in China reveal diet secrets of early humans
Vishwam Sankaran
Fri, July 4, 2025
THE INDEPENDENT
Rare 300,000-year-old wooden tools found in China reveal diet secrets of early humans
A trove of rare 300,000-year-old wooden tools unearthed in south-west China reveals that early humans in the region may have relied heavily on underground plants like roots and tubers for sustenance.
The findings, published on Thursday in the journal Science, throw light on the advanced cognitive skills of early human ancestors in East Asia and their lives, diet, and environment.
This rare find was made due to the wooden tools being preserved in oxygen-deprived clay sediments at the archaeological lakeshore site of Gantangqing in Jiangchuan, Yunnan province.
Advertisement
Researchers also found nearly 1,000 organic remains among the sediments.
Using advanced techniques, scientists dated the uncovered remains to establish the age of the tools between 250,000-350,000 years old.
The “extremely rare” wooden tools, which appear in varieties of forms and functions, were extracted from layers dating to around 300,000 years old, scientists say.
Until now, only two previously known discoveries have been made of wooden tools from this period – one in Europe and one in Africa.
Wooden tools from Gantangqing (Liu et al./Science)
Two of the newly uncovered sticks appeared similar to those found at Italy’s Poggetti Vecchi site, dating to 171,000 years old.
Four unique hook-shaped tools were also uncovered and were likely used for cutting roots, scientists say.
Researchers also found signs of deliberate polishing on the wooden tools, scraping marks and soil residues on the tool edges, indicating they were used for digging underground plants such as tubers and roots.
“The wooden implements include digging sticks and small, complete, hand-held pointed tools,” scientists wrote.
Based on these findings, scientists suspect these East Asian human ancestors likely followed a plant-based diet, with evidence of pine nuts, hazelnuts, kiwi fruit and aquatic tubers found at the site.
In comparison, the wooden tools uncovered in Europe and Africa were hunting implements, spears, and spear tips.
“The discovery challenges previous assumptions about early human adaptation. While contemporary European sites (like Schöningen in Germany) focused on hunting large mammals, Gantangqing reveals a unique plant-based survival strategy in the subtropics,” said archaeologist Bo Li, a co-author of the study.
“The diversity and sophistication of the wooden tools also fill a significant gap in the archaeological record, as pre-100,000-year-old wooden tools are extremely rare outside Africa and Western Eurasia,” Dr Li said.
The discovery reveals that wooden tools were in use by early humans living in a much wider range across the globe.
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