Large-scale processing of within-bone nutrients by Neanderthals, 125,000 years ago.

Abstract

Diet played a key role in human evolution, making the study of past diet and subsistence strategies a crucial research topic within paleoanthropology. Lipids are a crucial resource for hunter-gatherers, especially for foragers whose diet is based heavily on animal foods. Recent foragers have expended substantial amounts of energy to obtain this resource, including time-consuming production of bone grease, a resource intensification practice thus far only documented for Upper Paleolithic populations. We present archaeological data from the lake landscape of Neumark-Nord (Germany), where Last Interglacial Neanderthals processed at least 172 large mammals at a water's edge site. Their (partial) carcasses were transported to this location for the extraction of within-bone nutrients, particularly bone grease. This "fat factory" constitutes a well-documented case of grease rendering predating the Upper Paleolithic, with the special task location devoted to extraction of nutritionally important lipids forming an important addition to our knowledge of Neanderthal adaptations.