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Updated February 16th, 2021 at 19:29 IST

Neanderthals might have used same Nubian tools as homo sapiens, says study

The new study suggests that Neanderthals not only used the tools of modern-day humans but might have interacted with them physically and socially. 

Reported by: Vishal Tiwari
Neanderthals
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A new study suggests that Neanderthals used Nubian tools, previously thought to be exclusive to homo sapiens, disproving theories that the two groups never mingled with each other. The statement comes after scientists examined the tooth found near the remains of a nine-year-old Neanderthal child in Levant, modern-day Palestine. In the study published in Scientific Reports, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History suggest that Neanderthals not only used the tools of modern-day humans but might have interacted with them physically and socially. 

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The tooth was first discovered in 1928

This came up after researchers decided to re-examine the fossil and archaeological record of the Shuqba cave. The tooth examined by the researchers was kept in a private collection at the Natural History Museum in London for all these years since being discovered in 1928. After the examination of the tooth, researchers concluded that it belonged to a nine-year-old Neanderthal child. 

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"Sites, where hominin fossils are directly associated with stone tool assemblages, remain a rarity—but the study of both fossils and tools is critical for understanding hominin occupations of Shukbah Cave and the larger region. Illustrations of the stone tool collections from Shukbah hinted at the presence of Nubian Levallois technology so we revisited the collections to investigate further. In the end, we identified many more artifacts produced using the Nubian Levallois methods than we had anticipated," lead author Dr. Jimbob Blinkhorn was quoted as saying by Phys Org. 

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Neanderthals are a group of extinct primates, who lived across Eurasia some 40,000 years ago. It is believed that Neanderthals may have gone extinct because of a great change in climate, unknown disease, or a combination of both these factors. Neanderthals themselves are thought to have used very sophisticated technology and may have also shared some of the stone tools used by modern-day humans. But it was always suggested that Neanderthals never used Nubian technology, which now appears to be wrong. 

Read: COVID-19: Neanderthal Protein Offers Protection Against Mutant Virus Strain, Says Study
 

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Published February 16th, 2021 at 19:29 IST

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