Neanderthal 'Fat Factory' Found: Early Bone Grease Production 125,000 Years Ago!

Overview

Paper Summary › Explain Like I'm Five › Conflicts of Interest › Identified Limitations › Rating Explanation › Good to know › Topic Hierarchy › File Information ›

Paper Summary

Paperzilla title

This study presents strong evidence of dedicated bone grease processing by Neanderthals at the Neumark-Nord 2/2 site in Germany, dating back 125,000 years. Analysis of faunal remains, lithic artifacts, and site context suggests intensive processing of at least 172 large mammals for within-bone nutrients, indicating a specialized 'fat factory' and pushing back the earliest known evidence of this practice in the Paleolithic.

Explain Like I'm Five

Scientists found that ancient people called Neanderthals were really good at getting the gooey, fatty stuff from inside animal bones, like a factory. They did this a super long time ago to get important food.

Possible Conflicts of Interest

None identified

Identified Limitations

Potential biases in quantitative analysis

The study acknowledges the possibility of biases in quantitative analyses due to the limitations of previous grease rendering experiments, which focused exclusively on long bones. The NN2/2B assemblage, with its diverse bone elements and taxa, presents analytical challenges beyond the scope of these experiments.

Speculative interpretation of caching behavior

The authors speculate about the possibility of caching as an explanation for the large quantity of bones in a concentrated space, but they lack direct evidence. This limits the behavioral inferences that can be drawn from the assemblage.

Limited precision in occupation duration and nature

Despite the rich data, the study cannot determine the precise duration or continuous/discontinuous nature of the Neanderthal occupation at NN2/2B. This restricts the behavioral interpretations possible.

Rating Explanation

This is a strong study with robust data and analysis providing convincing evidence of early, large-scale bone grease rendering by Neanderthals. The limitations regarding the precise timing and nature of the site's use, as well as the speculative interpretation of caching, don't detract significantly from the main findings.

Good to know

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Topic Hierarchy

Domain: Social Sciences

Field: Arts and Humanities

Subfield: Archeology

File Information

Original Title: Large-scale processing of within-bone nutrients by Neanderthals, 125,000 years ago

Uploaded: July 28, 2025 at 06:34 PM

Privacy: Public