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Birch tar production does not prove Neanderthal behavioral complexity.

Patrick Schmidt1,2, Matthias Blessing3, Maxime Rageot3

  • 1Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; patrick.schmidt@uni-tuebingen.de.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|August 21, 2019
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Neanderthals may not have needed advanced cognition to produce birch tar. Burning birch bark near a surface can create usable tar, suggesting it was a simple byproduct, not complex behavior.

Keywords:
Neanderthal birch taradhesivescognitive complexityearly pyrotechnologymodern behaviors

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Area of Science:

  • Archaeology
  • Paleoanthropology
  • Material Science

Background:

  • Birch tar production by Neanderthals was previously considered evidence of modern cultural behavior.
  • This interpretation was based on the assumption that birch tar production required complex, anaerobic heating conditions and advanced cognition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether birch tar can be produced under simpler, aerobic conditions.
  • To re-evaluate the cognitive and cultural implications of birch tar presence in Neanderthal archaeological sites.

Main Methods:

  • Simulating birch bark burning near vertical stone surfaces under aerobic conditions.
  • Collecting and chemically analyzing the resulting birch tar.
  • Conducting mechanical tests to assess the tar's suitability for hafting.

Main Results:

  • Recognizable quantities of birch tar are a frequent byproduct of burning birch bark near hard surfaces under aerobic conditions.
  • The process is cognitively undemanding and yields usable tar within a short timeframe.
  • The produced tar exhibits markers consistent with archaeological samples and is suitable for hafting.

Conclusions:

  • The presence of birch tar alone does not necessarily indicate modern cognition or complex cultural behaviors in Neanderthals.
  • The production of birch tar could have been a readily discoverable, simple process for Neanderthals.