Spanish rock shelter yields Neanderthal wooden tools, suggesting wood mattered as much as stone
A review of wooden remains from Abric Romaní in Spain, published in Science Advances, identifies 13 objects made or used by Neanderthals, including spears, trays, a tripod and a unique club. Researchers say the finds show wood was central to Neanderthal technology.
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The story, neutrally told
Mixed · 2Researchers have completed what New Scientist calls the first systematic review of nearly 600 wooden remains, all between 40,000 and 62,000 years old, from the Abric Romaní rock shelter near Barcelona, Spain. New ScientistN “Vallverdú and his colleagues have now completed the first systematic review of nearly 600 wooden objects, all between 40,000 and 62,000 years old.” Read at New Scientist ↗ Daily MailR “Archaeologists investigating the site of Abric Romaní in Spain discovered evidence of wooden tools, structures, and woodworking dating from 40,000 to 62,000 years ago.” Read at Daily Mail ↗ Mixed · 2Only 13 of the pieces qualified as used or made by Neanderthals; most of the rest were trunks, branches, twigs, roots and firewood accumulations. New ScientistN “The researchers' first job was to determine exactly which pieces were used or made by Neanderthals. Only 13 qualified.” Read at New Scientist ↗ Daily MailR “The researchers uncovered the imprints and charred remains of 13 objects ranging from spears and a club to trays and tripods.” Read at Daily Mail ↗ Mixed · 2The wood survives as imprints in travertine, a calcium carbonate rock that preserves the grain after the timber has rotted, and as charred artefacts. The site has been excavated since the 1980s (the Daily Mail says 1983). New ScientistN “They include timber imprints in travertine – a rock rich in calcium carbonate that precipitates out of water in certain environments.” Read at New Scientist ↗ Daily MailR “Excavations began in 1983, but what makes this site so important is the fact that it is one of the few places to preserve evidence of ancient woodwork.” Read at Daily Mail ↗
Mixed · 2The objects include two pointed wooden spears or sticks, bark trays, structural poles, a tripod made from three sticks each over a metre long, and a stripped tree about 5.1 metres long that the paper interprets as a structural element in a resting area. New ScientistN “Other finds included a mysterious wooden tripod, as well as timber trays reminiscent, in terms of likely utility, of the coolamons traditionally used by Indigenous Australians to carry food and water.” Read at New Scientist ↗ Daily MailR “In another, the team found a 16.7-feet-long (5.1m) tree that had been stripped of its branches, apparently intended to function as a 'structural element and as part of a resting area'.” Read at Daily Mail ↗ Right · 1The Daily Mail reports that the Neanderthals chose different woods for different jobs, using flexible juniper bark for trays and Scots pine for harder-wearing tools. Daily MailR “A collection of small trays, for example, were shaped from the flexible bark of the juniper tree – perfect for lightweight, flexible equipment.”“the Neanderthal carpenters sought out Scots pine for their harder-wearing tools” Read at Daily Mail ↗ Mixed · 2The most surprising find is a club-like object with a narrow handle and an enlarged, asymmetrical head, for which the team could find no parallel at any other Palaeolithic site. The Daily Mail says only one other possible wooden club exists, from around 400,000 years ago, and that the researchers suggest the club could have been used as a weapon or to kill animals such as deer and horses. New ScientistN ““There is a distinct narrow handle and an enlarged, asymmetrical head, giving the object a much more complex and deliberate form,” she says.” Read at New Scientist ↗ Daily MailR “Wooden Neanderthal clubs like this are astonishingly rare, with only one other possible example dating from around 400,000 years ago, making it hard to determine what it was used for.” Read at Daily Mail ↗
Centre · 1Josep Vallverdú of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution said Neanderthal technology "was not only made of stone; it was also made of wood", and that woodworking appears across many levels and thousands of years, linked to hunting, domestic tasks, containers and the organisation of living spaces. New ScientistN ““Neanderthal technology was not only made of stone; it was also made of wood,” he says.”““We have evidence of woodworking across many archaeological levels and over thousands of years, and the objects are associated with very different activities: hunting, domestic tasks, containers and the organisation of living spaces,” Read at New Scientist ↗ Mixed · 2Colleague Maria Gema Chacón said the spears required planning, skill and careful selection of raw material, and that the behaviours are comparable to those documented for Homo sapiens. The paper in Science Advances describes "a remarkable technological versatility and the diversified exploitation of wood as a raw material". New ScientistN “The technological behaviours preserved at Abric Romaní are comparable to those documented for Homo sapiens, she says.” Read at New Scientist ↗ Daily MailR “In their paper, published in Science Advances, the researchers say that this small collection of artefacts shows 'a remarkable technological versatility and the diversified exploitation of wood as a raw material'.” Read at Daily Mail ↗ Centre · 1Outside experts called the finds significant but limited in scope. Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum noted that the evidence comes "from only one site, in one area, and one time span" and is "just the tip of the iceberg"; Naoki Morimoto of Kyoto University called the objects "remarkable". New ScientistN ““This is of course evidence from only one site, in one area, and one time span,” says Stringer, “so it's just the tip of the iceberg”“Naoki Morimoto at Kyoto University in Japan describes the wooden objects as “remarkable”.” Read at New Scientist ↗
Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.
Left0 outlets
No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
Centre1 outlet
- Framing
- Frames the find as a challenge to the assumption that Neanderthal technology was mainly stone, with the headline claiming Europe was as much a wooden age as a stone age.
- Emphasis
- Quotes from the researchers and independent experts (Stringer, Morimoto), preservation bias in the archaeological record, and the caveat that this is one site.
- Leaves out or plays down
- Gives little detail on wood species, the bark trays' material, or the club's possible use as a weapon.
- Charged language
- “missing half of the toolkit”
- For example
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“challenge the assumption that Neanderthals' technological life was based primarily on stone.” — New Scientist
“it is almost like suddenly seeing the missing half of the toolkit.” — New Scientist
Right1 outlet
- Framing
- Leads with a popular, striking take that Neanderthals were skilled carpenters and master woodworkers, telling readers to forget stone tools.
- Emphasis
- Object descriptions, wood choices (juniper, Scots pine), the club's design and possible use against deer, horses or other Neanderthals, and the preservation process.
- Leaves out or plays down
- Carries no outside expert comment and no caveat that the evidence comes from a single site; it does not mention that nearly 600 pieces were screened to reach the 13 objects.
- Charged language
- “Forget stone tools!”“master woodworkers”“accomplished carpenters”“Neanderthal carpenters”
- For example
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“new evidence suggests that they were also accomplished carpenters.” — Daily Mail
“Forget stone tools! Neanderthals were master woodworkers who crafted spears, trays and even tripods, scientists discover” — Daily Mail
What every side reports
- Wooden remains from Abric Romaní, Spain, dated to 40,000–62,000 years ago, were studied.
- Thirteen objects were identified as made or used by Neanderthals.
- The finds include spears or pointed sticks, trays, a tripod and a unique club-like object.
- Wood is rarely preserved, so the site gives an unusual view of Neanderthal technology.
Where accounts differ
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How far the finds overturn the stone-focused picture of Neanderthals
- Centre
- Presents the finds as challenging the assumption that Neanderthal technology was primarily stone, while Stringer cautions that this is one site, one area and one time span.
- Right
- Headline tells readers to 'Forget stone tools!' and calls Neanderthals master woodworkers, without the single-site caveat.
Left0 articles
No coverage yet.
Centre1 article
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Neanderthal Europe was as much a wooden age as a stone age
Neutral Science report built on researcher and independent expert quotes, presenting the wooden finds as revising the stone-centred view while noting the single-site limit.
Right1 article
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Celebratory Enthusiastic explainer casting Neanderthals as carpenters, with a stone-tool-dismissing headline and detailed object descriptions.
- 7 Oct 19:00 First New ScientistN Neanderthal Europe was as much a wooden age as a stone age
- 7 Oct 19:00 +1m Daily MailR Forget stone tools! Neanderthals were master woodworkers who crafted spears, trays and even tripods, scientists discover
Times are when each article was published, or when we first saw it if the outlet gave no time.