CNN
–
New research shows that humans who currently live by lakes near German lakes systematically treat animal corpses for fatty nutrients.
Archaeologists have discovered the factory by analyzing around 120,000 fractures and 16,000 flint tools over several years at a site known as Neumark-Nord, south of Halle city. The excavator found artifacts along with evidence of fire use.
Researchers say the Neanderthals, an extinct species of human beings known to have lived in the area 125,000 years ago, destroyed bone marrow-rich bones into pieces with a stone hammer and boiled for several hours to extract the fat.
This finding helps to draw pictures of the group’s organization, strategies, and deep-polished survival skills, as the feat included planning a hunt, transporting and storing corpses beyond immediate food needs, and rendering fat in areas specially designated for tasks.
“This attitude that Neanderthals were stupid — this is another data point that proves that it’s not,” said Will Roebroke, a researcher and professor of paleolithic archaeology at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
A series of archaeological discoveries over the past few decades show that Neanderthals are smarter than the original cruel stereotypes suggest. Ancient humans lived all over Eurasia and disappeared 40,000 years ago, and previous research found that they assembled gems from threads and glue, carved bones and cave walls, and Eagle Tarons.
Details of the new study suggest that Neanderthals may have also been unexpectedly refined in their approach to nutrition.
Research shows that for 300 years Neanderthals who lived on German sites had a clear understanding of the nutritional value of bone grease they produced.
Small amounts of fat are an important part of a healthy, balanced diet. This substance was even more important to hunter-gatherers, such as Neanderthals, who were heavily dependent on animal foods.
A diet dominated by lean meat and lacking fatty acids can lead to debilitating, sometimes fatal forms of malnutrition, impairing the ability of liver enzymes to break down proteins and remove excess nitrogen. Today, known as protein addiction, this condition has gained a reputation among early European explorers in North America as “rabbit addiction” or “maldecaribou.”
Hunter-gatherers, such as Neanderthals, who weigh average between 50 and 80 kilograms (110 and 175 pounds), had to maintain consumption of dietary protein less than 300 grams (about 10 ounces) per day to avoid conditions. Research shows that it amounts to around 1,200 calories. As a result, Neanderthals may need to source remaining calories from non-protein sources, either fat or carbohydrate.
The cuts of meat from the animal’s muscles contain little fat and create bones – even when the animal is malnourished, it contains bone marrow and other adipose tissue – a more important resource.
Researchers found that the vast majority of places here came from 172 individual large animals, including horses, deer, Auroloc and large cow-like creatures that are now extinct. Neanderthals had chosen the longest bone that would have most bone marrow included, the study found.
According to the study authors, it is not clear how Neanderthals dealt with bones. Ancient humans make containers and pots from other body parts, such as birch bark, animal skin, or stomach lining, fill them with water and hang on fire, Lowbroke said.
Neanderthals could have consumed the fat they produced as “greasy soups.” The plant may have been added for its flavor and nutritional value. Burnt sites of hazelnuts, acorns and slaw plums were also found during excavations, he noted.
“These were not simple hunter-gatherers that we walk through every day. They were master planners who could look ahead of the environment, organize complex tasks and narrow down all the last calories,” Smith said.
The findings are “exciting” according to Ludovic Slimac, an archaeologist at the French National Centre for Science and Research (CNRS) and the University of Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France. Slimak was not involved in this study.
“They ultimately provide a clear archaeological confirmation of what many of us have long suspected. Neanderthals not only evaluated intrasoneal lipids, they also developed specific strategies to extract and process them.”
“This is in close agreement with the broader archaeological record, which shows Neanderthals as highly skilled big-name hunters with a sophisticated sense of ecological adaptation,” he added.
Bruce Hardy, a professor of anthropology at Kenyon University in Gambier, Ohio, J. Kenneth Smale, said the Neumark Nord site is “the best example of bone glaze rendering.” Hardy was also not involved in the research.
“The combination of evidence presented here at Neumark-Nord is impressive,” Hardy says. “It may well represent a smoldering gun in Neanderthal bone glaze rendering, or a boiled bone soup.”
