Neanderthals were not as dumb as experts thought as ‘breakthrough’ study reveals they made their own tools

NEANDERTHALS were not as dumb as experts thought — and made tools.

Work items found in a cave in France from 40,000BC were thought to have been crafted by early humans.

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But ancient DNA tests at the Châtelperronian archaeological site in Grotte du Renne proved they were made by cavemen.

The researchers found 28 bone fragments, other hand-made objects and primitive jewellery.

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Study author Frido Welker said: “This breakthrough provides really exciting opportunities for future research into the origins of evolutionary history.”

Professor Jean-Jacques Hublin, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, added: "The process of replacement of archaic local populations by modern humans in Eurasia is still poorly understood, as the makers of many palaeolithic tool-kits of this time period remain unknown.

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"This type of research now allows us to extract unrecognisable human fragments out of large archaeological assemblages and to revisit the mode and the tempo of this major event in human evolution with fresh material.