Neanderthal fiber technology innovations and the reduction of the biological cost of having offspring

Abstract

Many laypeople often consider Neanderthals (400 kya to 40 kya) to be our cognitively inferior forebears. Recent interdisciplinary research, however, has contended that Neanderthals were much smarter than our prejudices allow. Archaeological findings of technologies – like digging sticks and woven cordage – indicate that Neanderthals had the capacity to make tools to aid their life processes. As such, Neanderthals innovated technologies related to weaning in order to reduce its energetic demands. By using research from archaeology, anthropology, and dental morphology concerning Neanderthal weaning, this paper contends that Neanderthals had much greater cognitive abilities than many have previously thought.