Wooden artifacts from the Paleolithic era are exceptionally rare because wood decays quickly, leaving archaeologists largely reliant on stone tools for understanding early human technology. At Abric Romaní in Capellades, west of Barcelona, mineral-rich water coated discarded Neanderthal wooden objects in a limestone-like crust. When the wood later rotted away, it left behind hollow casts that faithfully preserved the original shapes.
A team of Spanish archaeologists, publishing in Science Advances, catalogued 597 such wooden remains from layers dating between 62,000 and 40,000 years ago. The inventory includes spears, digging sticks, bark trays, structural elements from shelters, and a club unlike any previously documented. The assemblage suggests Neanderthals produced a wider range of wooden tools than just hunting gear.
Prior to this study, the oldest known wooden artifacts mostly came from waterlogged sites, such as the spears from Schöningen in Germany, a spear tip from Clacton-on-Sea in England, and the spear found alongside an elephant skeleton in Lehringen, Germany. These finds were primarily hunting weapons, whereas the Abric Romaní collection indicates Neanderthals also made domestic and possibly ceremonial items. The new evidence reinforces a growing body of research suggesting Neanderthals were far more skilled and culturally complex than the caricature of brutish cavemen.