Even our prehistoric cousins had distinct preferences when it came to preparing food, according to new research. Archaeologists studying animal bones from two caves in northern Israel have found that different groups of Neanderthals, living at around the same time, butchered the same animals in different ways.
“It means that within all the Neanderthal population, you have several distinct groups that have distinct ways of doing things, even for activities that are so related to survival,” said Anaëlle Jallon, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and first author of the study, published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.
The team analysed cut marks on 249 bone fragments from Amud cave, dated to between 70,000 and 50,000 years ago, and 95 fragments from Kebara cave, dated to between 60,000 and 50,000 years ago. The caves are about 70km apart and both were occupied by Neanderthals during winter. While both groups used similar flint tools and ate a similar diet featuring mountain gazelles and fallow deer, detailed analysis of 43 and 34 bone samples respectively revealed clear differences in butchery marks. Even when comparing only gazelle long bones, bones from Amud showed a higher density of cut marks, more crossing each other, and fewer straight lines but more curved ones.
The researchers suggest several possible explanations, including different butchery techniques, varying numbers of people involved in processing carcasses, or differences in the state of decay of the meat. “It’s either, like, food preferences that lead to different ways of preparing meat and then cutting it, or just differences in the way they learn how to cut meat,” said Jallon.
Dr Matt Pope of University College London, who was not involved in the work, said the study added to evidence that different Neanderthal groups had different ways of making tools and sometimes used different toolkits. “These aren’t just cut marks being studied, these are the gestures and movements of the Neanderthal people themselves, as evocative to us as footprints or hand marks on a cave wall,” he said, adding that the research was a reminder that “there is no monolithic neanderthal culture”.
