Scientists are now finding that Neandertals were intelligent, clever, and resourceful, the same as any other people. Given their evolutionary assumptions, many scientists had for decades imagined that Neandertals were a brutish, ‘less-evolved’ people. A recent university study reporting the discovery of a short piece of string has cast further doubt on this view.

Said to be the oldest ever found, the string was unearthed in a French cave. It was adhering to an ancient stone tool (60 mm, 2.4 in long) at an archaeological level representing the cave’s period of Neandertal occupation.

The production of three-ply string requires an intelligence seen only in humans. This example was made from inner bark fibre which can produce a very strong and fine string. The strands “were separated and twisted clockwise (s-twist) [then] twined counterclockwise (Z-twist) to form a cord.”

String production is not at all an intuitive, ‘natural’ skill. The researchers say it “requires detailed knowledge of plants, seasonality, planning, retting, etc. [and] an understanding of mathematical concepts”. Not to mention considerable dexterity; each composite strand needs to have the right thickness, the right twist—and the right tension, adjusted and maintained throughout.

Following the Babel dispersion, groups of people moving out into the wilds would have been dependent on good string to haft their axes, spears, and spear-throwers, for instance. Shoddy goods meant going hungry—or even dying if attacked when insufficiently prepared. Multi-ply cord also forms the basis of many other necessary items such as fabric, bags, and nets.

The study concluded that Neandertals were likely just as intelligent as modern humans.

• Hardy, B.L. and 5 others, Direct evidence of Neandertal fibre technology and its cognitive and behavioural implications, nature.com, 9 Apr 2020.
• 50,000-year-old string found at France Neandertal site, bbc.com, 13 Apr 2020.