Neanderthals made a ‘Swiss Army knife’ from cave lion bone
A famous prehistoric cave site in Belgium has yielded the oldest multifunctional tool of its kind. This Ice Age “Swiss Army knife” wasn’t crafted by early Homo sapiens, however. Instead, the handy accessory came from our evolutionary cousin, the Neanderthal. The findings are detailed in a study published in Scientific Reports. Neanderthals often get a bad rap. Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, many present-day Homo sapiens still believe that the archaic lineage died out largely because they were essentially dumber than their Cro-Magnon competitors. But while their cognitive abilities may have played a part in the larger story, Neanderthals simply weren’t as less-evolved as they’re depicted. For example, in 2024 researchers discovered what appear to be tchotchkes collected by Neanderthals at the Prado Vargas Cave system in Burgos, Spain. More recently,a team conducting ongoing excavations at Scaldina Cave archeological trove in central Belgium found an animal bone with clear indications of...