The bone was likely boiled before being carved, and took about an hour and a half to make, Dr. Terberger said. Even though Neanderthals were known to have lived in and around the cave, Dr. Terberger initially thought the carving had to have been made by an early Homo sapiens. So the carving, as the scientists published this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution, was almost certainly made by Neanderthals. The new carving is one of only a handful of examples of Neanderthal art, like body ornaments, rock engravings and notched animal bones. Many scientists have raised doubts about whether some of these Neanderthal art pieces were actually tools, and whether they picked up their creative proclivities from interactions with early ancestors from our species.

Source: New York Times July 10, 2021 09:00 UTC