The fact that Neanderthals were able to make a fire and use it, among other things, for cooking, demonstrates their intelligence.
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"This confirms our observations and theories from previous studies," explains Diego Angelucci, archaeologist at the University of Trento and co-author of the study.
"Neanderthals were capable of symbolic thought, could create artistic objects, knew how to decorate their bodies using personal ornaments and had an extremely varied diet.
"Add to that that, based on our findings, we can say with certainty that they habitually ate cooked food. This ability confirms that they were as skilled as the Homo sapiens who lived millennia later."
"There is a general agreement among archaeologists that they knew how to use fire. However, one thing is to use fire started by natural processes, such as lightning, another is to make it, feed it with wood and use it for cooking, heating and defense. In this study we demonstrate that there is no doubt that Neanderthals could make a fire and that fire was a central element in their daily life."
The article documents and compares the remains of structured fires found in the same location: The Gruta de Oliveira in central Portugal, one of the most important European archaeological sites for the Middle Paleolithic. What is so exceptional about this cave is that excavations were conducted systematically and with great accuracy for more than 20 years between 1989 and 2012.
The works were led by an international group of archaeologists supervised by João Zilhão (University of Lisbon), who authored the study together with Diego Angelucci (UniTrento) and Mariana Nabais (IPHES, Catalan Institute for Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution, Tarragona).
The cave is part of the Almonda karst system, a vast network of caves placed at different elevations above a large spring that have been inhabited in different periods during Prehistory.
The oldest layers of the Gruta de Oliveira, which includes a number of passages, date back to about 120,000 years ago, the most recent to about 40,000: It is believed that Neanderthals inhabited this place between 100,000 and 70,000 years ago.
In this case however, what caught the attention of archaeologists were the traces of hearths intentionally built and used in the cave. The archaeologists found about a dozen hearths at various stratigraphic levels in an excavation area of about 30 square meters and six meters deep. The unmistakable basin-like, circular structures were filled with remains.
Findings from inside and near the hearths demonstrate that the inhabitants of the caves used to cook their food.
"We found burnt bones, burnt wood and ash remains. And the rock underneath has been reddened by the heat: This is a crucial detail because it tells us that the structure is in a primary position. And it has always been there. Fire is a fundamental element in their daily lives. It makes the place comfortable and helps socialization. It gives back that basic idea of 'home' that perhaps could also apply to them." ■