Ochre-based compound adhesives at the Mousterian type-site document complex cognition and high investment
Schmidt P. Iovita R. Charrié-Duhaut A. Möller G. Namen A. Dutkiewicz E.
February 2024American Association for the Advancement of Science
Science Advances
2024#10Issue 8
Ancient adhesives used in multicomponent tools may be among our best material evidences of cultural evolution and cognitive processes in early humans. African Homo sapiens is known to have made compound adhesives from naturally sticky substances and ochre, a technical behavior proposed to mark the advent of elaborate cognitive processes in our species. Foragers of the European Middle Paleolithic also used glues, but evidence of ochre-based compound adhesives is unknown. Here, we present evidence of this kind. Bitumen was mixed with high loads of goethite ochre to make compound adhesives at the type-site of the Mousterian, Le Moustier (France). Ochre loads were so high that they lowered the adhesive’s performance in classical hafting situations where stone implements are glued to handles. However, when used as handheld grips on cutting or scraping tools, a behavior known from Neanderthals, high-ochre adhesives present a real benefit, improving their solidity and rigidity. Our findings help understand the implications of Pleistocene adhesive making. copyright
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Early Prehistory and Quaternary ecology, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Applied Mineralogy, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University of tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Center for the Study of human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, 10003, NY, United States
Laboratoire de spectrométrie de masse des interactions et des systèmes (lSMiS), Strasbourg University, Cnrs, Cmc UMR, Strasbourg, 7140, France
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, School of Sciences and humanities, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für vor- und Frühgeschichte, Berlin, Germany
Early Prehistory and Quaternary ecology
Applied Mineralogy
Center for the Study of human Origins
Laboratoire de spectrométrie de masse des interactions et des systèmes (lSMiS)
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
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