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Bone tools discovery explodes myth of unskilled Neanderthals

Fragments find shows they were customising tools before modern man came on the scene

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Different views of the most complete lissoir found during excavations at the Neanderthal site in France. Photo: AFP

Researchers have found what they say are specialised bone tools made by Neanderthals in Europe thousands of years before modern humans are thought to have arrived to share such skills.

The discovery suggests modern man's distant cousins were more advanced than previously believed.

In a paper published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers discuss their discovery of four fragments of bone in southwestern France that they say were used as lissoirs, or smoothers, to make animal hides tougher and more water-resistant.

The researchers believe the oldest tool is 51,000 years old, while the other three are between 42,000 and 47,000 years old. Similar tools are still used by leather workers to this day.

Until now, scientists have believed that modern humans taught the Neanderthals how to make the tools, but modern humans are only believed to have reached central and western Europe 42,000 years ago.

The researchers say the discovery provides the first evidence that Neanderthals may have independently made specialised bone tools - that is, tools that could only be made from bone. Other early Neanderthal bone tools were simply replicas of their stone tools.

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