Neanderthals were using sophisticated methods to extract birch tar and use it as an adhesive in tool making.

Scientists recently found traces of the ancient glue on the handle of a 50,000 year-old flint tool, according to a study published this week.

"What is so interesting about this find is the combination of a large amount of birch tar on a small and simple sliver of stone," Paul Kozowyk, a doctoral candidate at Leiden University, said in a news release. "It shows that Neanderthals were not only skilled in making tar, but that they also invested in materials that are all too easy to overlook in archaeological research."

Researchers are lucky to have found anything at all. The flint tool was one of several Stone Age artifacts recovered from Sand Motor, an artificial sandbank on the west coast of the Netherlands. Scientists suspect the artifacts were dredged by ships and deposited on the beach thousands of years after being washed into the North Sea.

Evidence of ancient birch tar extraction has previously been documented at Königsaue in Germany and Campitello in Italy. Now, researchers have discovered evidence suggesting Neanderthals in northwest Europe were using complex techniques to build tools.

"This find shows that Neanderthals placed a lot of emphasis on 'high-tech' methods, even on the periphery of their inhabited territory," said Leiden researcher Gerrit Dusseldorp. "When the North Sea dried up during the last Ice Age, they turned to the knowledge economy to survive the barren environment."

Analysis suggests the tar was applied to the tool's handle to make it easier to grip, but researchers expect the ancient glue was also used to affix stone blades to wooden handles.

Scientists previously hypothesized that larger group sizes, enhanced communication and cultural exchange were all necessary for tool making innovations, but Neanderthals were organized into small bands.

Authors of the new study -- published this week in the journal PNAS -- suggest Neanderthals were compelled to innovate in order to guard against food shortages, cold spells and the many other realities of life during the Stone Age.

"Together with data from experiments and other Middle Paleolithic adhesives, it demonstrates that Neandertals mastered complex adhesive production strategies and composite tool use at the northern edge of their range," researchers wrote.

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Scientists find early humans moved through Mediterranean earlier than believed
Hamilto, Canada (SPX) Oct 17, 2019
An international research team led by scientists from McMaster University has unearthed new evidence in Greece proving that the island of Naxos was inhabited by Neanderthals and earlier humans at least 200,000 years ago, tens of thousands of years earlier than previously believed. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, are based on years of excavations and challenge current thinking about human movement in the region - long thought to have been inaccessible and uninhabitable to a ... read more