The First Adhesive Was Invented by Neanderthals 200,000 Years Ago

[Judi Lynn]

By Jen Viegas, Seeker | September 1, 2017 01:50pm ET

Neanderthals — early members of the genus Homo from Europe and Asia — have had such a lowly standing on the human family tree that the very word Neanderthal is often synonymous with archaic ways and ignorance.

Neanderthals, however, had big brains, complex societies, and tools so useful that some designs created for leatherworking are still in use today. Many researchers even believe that a true extinction of Neanderthals might not have occurred, but that these individuals instead were absorbed into what evolved to be current Homo sapiens. To this day, people of European and Asian heritage retain Neanderthal DNA.

Excavations over the past few decades have unearthed tar lumps and adhesive residues on stone tools at Neanderthal sites in Germany. Some anthropologists have claimed that adhesive production is a high-tech skill associated with anatomically modern humans, yet new research published in the journal Scientific Reports not only supports that Neanderthals invented adhesives, but also it explains how they probably achieved the feat.

“Right now, the oldest evidence we have points to Neanderthals inventing adhesives at least 200,000 years ago in Europe,” lead author Paul Kozowyk said.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/60302-first-adhesive-invented-by-neanderthals.html

[bettyellen]

1. Snot?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Neanderthals were distilling tar 200 thousand years ago in Europe

These early humans were using tar to make tools long before Homo sapiens did.

ANNALEE NEWITZ - 9/3/2017, 10:00 AM

Despite many recent discoveries that show Neanderthals were technologically and socially sophisticated, there's still a popular idea that these heavy-browed, pale-skinned early humans were mentally inferior to modern Homo sapiens. Now we have even more corroboration that they were pretty sharp. A fascinating new study reveals that Neanderthals were distilling tar for tool-making 200 thousand years ago—long before evidence of tar-making among Homo sapiens. And an experimental anthropologist has some good hypotheses for how they did it, too.

One of humanity's earliest technological breakthroughs was learning to distill tar from tree bark. It was key to making compound tools with two or more parts; adhesives could keep a stone blade nicely fitted into a wooden handle for use as a hoe, an axe, or even a spear. Scientists have discovered ancient beads of tar in Italy, Germany, and several other European sites dating back as much as 200 thousand years, which is about 150 thousand years before modern Homo sapiens arrived in Western Europe. That means the people who distilled that tar had to be Neanderthals.

The question that Leiden University archaeologist Paul Kozowyk and his colleagues wanted to answer was how sophisticated the Neanderthals had to be to do it. Modern-day tar is distilled between 340 °C and 370 °C, and the process requires a ceramic vessel. Maintaining a temperature in that narrow band is very difficult without specialized tools. Plus, there are no signs that anybody on Earth had developed ceramic technology until roughly 20 thousand years ago, and ceramic pots didn't come into widespread use until about 9,000 years ago.

Still, the evidence is indisputable: humans manufactured beads of tar much earlier. Kozowyk and his fellow researchers decided to figure out how by engaging in a little experimental archaeology, so they set about trying to make tar using only the tools Neanderthals had available. These included fire, ash, birch bark, sharp stones, and mesh woven from sticks. Kozowyk and his team tested three ways to make tar from birch bark, and they measured tar output, temperature, and complexity of the task.

More:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/09/neanderthals-were-distilling-tar-200-thousand-years-ago-in-europe/

[Warpy]

5. One attempt I saw used a buried animal skull to catch the pitch

but again, the biggest problem came in maintaining the proper temperature. It's too bad that particular skill hasn't come down through the ages, we will need it after the next war.

[Warpy]

3. It was also hot glue

When cold, it stayed stable and portable. Once heated, it turned into adhesive sufficient to fix points onto the heavy spears they used. Groups also tended to make it on an industrial scale, large quantities of materials needed and holding them at a specific temperature necessary to produce the components of it. We haven't been able to duplicate their method, especially holding the precise temperature over time with the materials they had at hand.

Interbreeding with them likely made us a lot smarter, not dumber.

[Thor_MN]

6. Precise temperatures are not required.

From the Ars Techinca article

"The researchers also discovered that they could distill tar even if the temperatures sometimes went below 200 °C and above 400 °C. It turns out that neither ceramics nor a carefully-maintained temperature are necessary to make tar."

[democratisphere]

4. Damn Homo sapiens never want to give others their due.

Interesting article. Thanks.