Kindler, Lutz;
Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Sabine;
Scherjon, Fulco;
Garcia-Moreno, Alejandro;
Smith, Geoff M;
Pop, Eduard;
Speth, John D;
(2025)
Large-scale processing of within-bone nutrients by Neanderthals, 125,000 years ago.
Science Advances
, 11
(27)
, Article eadv1257. 10.1126/sciadv.adv1257.
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Abstract
Diet played a key role in human evolution, making the study of past diet and subsistence strategies a crucial research topic within paleoanthropology. Lipids are a crucial resource for hunter-gatherers, especially for foragers whose diet is based heavily on animal foods. Recent foragers have expended substantial amounts of energy to obtain this resource, including time-consuming production of bone grease, a resource intensification practice thus far only documented for Upper Paleolithic populations. We present archaeological data from the lake landscape of Neumark-Nord (Germany), where Last Interglacial Neanderthals processed at least 172 large mammals at a water's edge site. Their (partial) carcasses were transported to this location for the extraction of within-bone nutrients, particularly bone grease. This "fat factory" constitutes a well-documented case of grease rendering predating the Upper Paleolithic, with the special task location devoted to extraction of nutritionally important lipids forming an important addition to our knowledge of Neanderthal adaptations.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Large-scale processing of within-bone nutrients by Neanderthals, 125,000 years ago |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1126/sciadv.adv1257 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adv1257 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Neanderthals, Animals, Bone and Bones, Archaeology, Humans, Nutrients, Fossils, Diet, History, Ancient |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Institute of Archaeology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Institute of Archaeology > Institute of Archaeology Gordon Square |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10210917 |
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