Yet another discovery suggests that Neanderthals were much more advanced than we give them credit for. According to research published in PLOS ONE, these hominids — precursors of modern humans — might have created jewelry without the help or influence of the modern humans who take credit for the art.
In fact, they may have had the skill and sophistication necessary to catch multiple eagles — the most aggressive aerial predators of the day — and fashion their talons into necklaces.
At the turn of the 20th century, Dragutin Gorjanovic-Kramberger excavated a site full of human and animal remains in what is now Croatia. But he missed the significance of the eagle talons. "When I saw them, my jaw dropped," said David Frayer of the University of Kansas, one of the authors of the new study. "The talons were so complete and so beautiful, and the cut marks were so obvious."
This is important, Frayer said, because of their age: 120,000 or 130,000 years ago, there were only Neanderthals in Croatia.
He also thinks the talons' use as ornamentation — if that's indeed what they were for — speaks to abstract thought. "When you catch the most powerful aerial predator in your environment and wear it around your neck, that suggests some kind of attempt to get its power," he said.
Washington Post
