THE The Neanderthals of Gibraltar They created a complex structure to extract tar 60,000 years ago. This is what a scientific study reveals in which the University of Seville (US), which found for the first time a structure compatible with theoretical studies of anoxic heating. The research was carried out under the direction of the National Museum of Gibraltar, responsible for the World Heritage site, in collaboration with the University of Murcia and the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC).
Although it looks like a simple hole, it is precisely its simplicity that has probably meant that it has not been identified before. It was only thanks to a multitude of analyzes and the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team that it was possible to demonstrate its use as an anoxic heating chamber.
The discovery took place in the Vanguard Cavewhich is part of the Gorham Caves complex, recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016. “This complex demonstrated once again that it is capable of preserving authentic snapshots of past human activities thanks to the rapid advancement of a dune that sealed its remains,” said the University of Seville .
To come to the conclusion that this structure could only have been made by Neanderthals around 60,000 years ago, they collaborated by working together. 31 researchers from more than five countries, specialists in 15 disciplines different. Among its branches of knowledge are paleobonics, archaeology, ichnology, geochemistry and mineralogy.
Professor of the Department of Crystallography, Mineralogy and Agricultural Chemistry at the University of Seville, Fernando Muñiz, explained that “our extinct cousins were not the brutalized humans of popular imagination. It has been demonstrated that this human species had cognitive abilities, as evidenced by the research carried out which shows the mastery of industrial processes to manufacture resin as an adhesive for attach the stone points to the handles of the spears.
On the other hand, the director of the excavations, the Gibraltarian Clive Finlayson, details that “the Neanderthals had to go through a series of thought processes, choosing which plants to choose and find out how to extract the resin without burning it.
Complex knowledge levels
Theoretical studies had proposed two methods for making this tar. One of them was simple and of low productivity: it consisted of the combustion, in the open air, of birch bark. A second, more complex method would have required anoxic heating of fragments of woody plants, such as birch.
For this, it was necessary bury the fragments of woody plants and heat them over a fire, isolated from oxygen, so that they exude resin without the wood catching fire. Whether they used one method or another had big implications for Neanderthals’ cognitive abilities, since the most complex method required a high level of organization and practice.
To demonstrate that the structure created by Neanderthals is viable, methodologies have been developed and a simulation exercise has even been carried out. experimental archaeology.
Based on the geochemical and fossil evidence obtained, it was interpreted that the resin was obtained from sticky rockrose (ladanifer rockrose) instead of bircha rarer tree in Mediterranean latitudes at the time. It is known that until the 20th century, labdanum oil was obtained from cistus to be used as perfume, cough syrup or as an antiseptic with a method very similar to that described in the study.
Primitive art
In 2012, Finlayson’s team discovered a strange “hashtag” type mark on a piece of limestone, interpreted by some experts as a sign of primitive art. They collected feathers, but only black feathers, from a wide variety of birds, possibly for aesthetic or ceremonial purposes.
“They used medicinal plants, They buried their dead, made jewelry and specialized tools, as well as ocher and other pigments, perhaps for face or body painting. Their tracheal anatomy suggests that they were capable of speech and likely had a high-pitched, raspy voice,” Muñiz explains.
