Neanderthal wooden tools from Spain found preserved in stone

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The Stone Age owes its name to tools that survived to our time. The material early humans worked with most, though, was probably wood because it is so much easier to process. Unfortunately, we know very little about Paleolithic woodwork because wood rots relatively quickly. But at Abric Romaní, a rock shelter in Capellades, west of Barcelona, mineral-rich water coated wooden Neanderthal tools in a limestone-like crust. When wood rotted away, it left behind hollow molds that faithfully reflect its shape.

石器时代之所以得名，是因为有工具留存至今。然而，早期人类使用最多的材料很可能是木头，因为它更容易加工。遗憾的是，我们对旧石器时代的木制品知之甚少，因为木头腐烂得相对较快。但在巴塞罗那以西卡佩利亚德斯的阿布里克·罗马尼（Abric Romaní）岩棚，富含矿物质的水在尼安德特人的木制工具上覆盖了一层类似石灰岩的外壳。当木头腐烂后，留下了忠实反映其形状的空心模具。

In a recent Science Advances study, a team of Spanish archaeologists has cataloged 597 wooden remains from Neanderthal living areas dating from 62,000 to 40,000 years ago. They found spears, digging sticks, bark trays, parts of shelters, and a club unlike anything seen before, suggesting Neanderthals were likely much more than just Homo sapiens’ dumber cousins.

在《科学进展》杂志最近的一项研究中，一个西班牙考古学家团队对尼安德特人生活区中 62,000 年至 40,000 年前的 597 件木制遗存进行了编目。他们发现了长矛、挖掘棒、树皮托盘、住所部件以及一种前所未见的棍棒，这表明尼安德特人很可能不仅仅是智人更愚笨的表亲。

The oldest wooden artifacts we have are mostly weapons. They include spears from a German town called Schöningen, a spear tip from Clacton-on-Sea in England, and the spear found alongside an elephant skeleton in Lehringen, Germany. Most came from waterlogged sediments, where a lack of oxygen slowed decay. The spears mostly give us information about how Neanderthals hunted. The findings at Abric Romaní are different because the finds come from a place where Neanderthals lived, slept, cooked, and made tools over the course of some 20,000 years.

我们现存最古老的木制文物大多是武器。其中包括来自德国舍宁根镇的长矛、英国克拉克顿海滩的长矛尖，以及在德国莱林根与大象骨架一起发现的长矛。大多数文物来自水浸沉积物，那里缺氧的环境减缓了腐烂。这些长矛主要提供了关于尼安德特人如何狩猎的信息。阿布里克·罗马尼的发现则有所不同，因为这些发现来自尼安德特人在约 20,000 年间生活、睡觉、烹饪和制造工具的地方。

The shelter sits at the foot of a cliff of travertine, a limestone laid down by calcium-rich spring water. As that水 dripped across the shelter floor, calcium carbonate settled on anything lying around—logs, leaves, pine cones, and Neanderthal tools. Sealed inside the crust, the wood slowly decomposed, leaving hollow molds. These are perfect negatives of the original objects, sometimes so detailed that the outlines of wood cells are visible under a microscope.

该岩棚位于石灰华悬崖脚下，这是一种由富含钙的泉水沉积而成的石灰岩。当水滴过岩棚地面时，碳酸钙沉积在周围的任何物体上——原木、树叶、松果和尼安德特人的工具。木头被密封在外壳内缓慢分解，留下了空心模具。这些模具是原始物体的完美负片，有时细节非常丰富，以至于在显微镜下可以看到木细胞的轮廓。

Most of the 597 remains turned out to be natural trunks, fallen branches, and lots of firewood, mostly Scots pine. Only 13 objects were made or modified by Neanderthals. “The morphology of these 13 tools is impossible to find in nature,” says Chacón.

这 597 件遗存中，大部分被证明是天然树干、掉落的树枝和大量的木柴，主要是欧洲赤松。只有 13 件物品是由尼安德特人制造或改造的。查孔（Chacón）说：“这 13 件工具的形态在自然界中是不可能找到的。”

Four shallow trays made of juniper bark, the largest 55 by 20 centimeters, were found near hearths. They may have been used to carry food or scoop embers, much like the bark dishes called coolamons used by Aboriginal Australians. Crossed poles over a thick hearth may be the remains of a tripod, possibly for processing food. A branchless pole more than five meters long was found in the innermost part of the shelter.

在炉火附近发现了四个由杜松树皮制成的浅托盘，最大的为 55 乘 20 厘米。它们可能被用来运送食物或铲取余烬，很像澳大利亚原住民使用的名为“库拉蒙”（coolamon）的树皮盘。厚重炉火上方交叉的杆子可能是三脚架的残骸，可能用于加工食物。在岩棚的最深处发现了一根五米多长的无枝杆。

The team found a pointed stick and two spears lying close to the antlered skulls of red deer. The best-preserved spear is 2.45 meters long. Chacón says a cast of its point shows an impact fracture identical to those on spears used by Aboriginal Australians. That kind of damage happens when a point strikes bone or something similarly hard. The most surprising find, though, was a club. The club was carved from a single piece of wood, with a 16-centimeter handle and a pointed, roughly triangular head about 14 centimeters tall.

研究小组发现了一根尖头木棍和两支长矛，它们靠近马鹿带角的头骨。保存最完好的一支长矛长 2.45 米。查孔说，其矛尖的铸件显示出一种撞击骨折，与澳大利亚原住民使用的长矛上的骨折完全相同。当矛尖撞击骨头或类似坚硬物体时，就会发生这种损坏。然而，最令人惊讶的发现是一根棍棒。这根棍棒由一整块木头雕刻而成，有一个 16 厘米长的手柄和一个约 14 厘米高、大致呈三角形的尖头。