OS working in a rationalized and rationalized aerodynamic lance point, then by doing it on a tree with tar which had to be extracted and refined before use takes on sophisticated knowledge and skills. And it is clear that the Neanderthals have developed this competence by themselves, instead of acquiring it from our species through a sort of prehistoric ITAR violation. Despite this, Golovanova and his colleagues note in their article that “the production technology of bone cutting weapons used by Neanderthals was at the emerging level compared to those used and introduced by modern humans.” (Which seems a little rude.)
Slightly damaged, use at risk
In these enlarged photos, you can see the damage to the point of the point of the point.
Credit: Golovanova et al. 2025
A small crack at the forefront of the spear point shows that some Neanderthal hunters used it at least once and managed to strike something. Golovanova and his colleagues examined the crack and the thinner network of cracks (visible in the micro-CT images) which spread from the original rupture. These cracks closely resembled damage to a frontal impact, which archaeologists have seen in bone tools of other sites and in experimental studies (also called “archaeologists have made bone point spears and threw them on things to see what would happen”, which is an excellent approach to science).
And apparently, a bone lance point was worth trying to repair and reusing, because traces of grinding show that someone tried to smooth the crack, probably with a stone tool.
What types of prey were the Neanderthals of the Mezmaiskaya cave hunting? Based on the bones found in the cave, many of which show cutting and scratch marks, the local menu included birds and small mammals, but also a larger game like bison, deer, modern horses and wild sheep and goats.
The fact is that interspecific interactions are complicated
Archaeologists have found many evidence that the Neanderthals have used bone tools for all kinds of things, the formatting and retouching of the stone with softening animal skins. The projectile point, however, is the first proof that the Neanderthals knew how to carefully work on the bone in a particular form, instead of simply collecting a convenient coast to smooth certain skins.
The use of specific processes to sculpt the bone, combined with the use of an ocher to decorate things and use tar and resin to stick things together, is part of what anthropologists have defined as “modern” human behavior. And it looks like Homo sapiens And the Neanderthals each worked most of this, separately, long before the two species met.
There are good reasons to think that the two groups finally exchanged key technology pieces here and there, but that the exchange was not the one -way street that anthropologists once expected.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2023 DOI: 10.1016 / J.Jas.2025.106223; (About).