The bone "lissoirs" used for treating leather The bone
"lissoirs" used for treating leatherIMAGE COURTESY OF THE ABRI
PEYRONY AND PECH-DE-L’AZÉ I PROJECTS  Neanderthals were the
first humans in Europe to use specialised bone tools.  The
discovery suggests a higher level of complexity in Neanderthal
society and could even mean that modern humans learnt from
Neanderthals, instead of the other way around.  Excavations in
the Dordogne region in the south-west of France found four
fragments of Neanderthal bone tools used to treat leather. The
discoveries date from between 51,000 to 41,000 thousand years
ago, suggesting that the Neanderthals developed the tools
independently of modern humans, who around 42,000 years ago. The
findings are described in a study published in Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences on 12 August.  When modern
humans arrived in Europe, things quickly went downhill for
Neanderthals, another species of human that lived in Europe.
From 30,000 years ago onwards, Neanderthals disappear