Neanderthal adhesives were made through a complex synthesis process
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As Homo sapiens, we often consider ourselves to be the most intelligent hominins. But that doesn't mean our species was the first to discover everything; it appears that Neanderthals found a way to manufacture synthetics long before we ever did.
Neanderthal tools might look relatively simple, but new research shows that Homo neanderthalensisdevised a method of generating a glue derived from birch tar to hold them together about 200,000 years ago-and it was tough. This ancient superglue made bone and stone adhere to wood, was waterproof, and didn't decompose. The tar was also used a hundred thousand years before modern humans came up with anything synthetic.
A transformationAfter studying ancient tools that carry residue from this glue, a team of researchers from the Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen and other institutions in Germany found evidence that this glue wasn't just the original tar; it had been transformed in some way. This raises the question of what was involved in that transformation.