Neanderthals May Have Used Rhino Teeth as Tools

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND—Neanderthals may have used rhinoceros teeth as heavy-duty tools, Science News reports. Some 100,000 years ago, the narrow-nosed rhino (Stephanorhinus hemitoechus) and Neanderthals both lived in Europe. Alicia Sanz-Royo of the University of Aberdeen and her colleagues used microscopes to analyze marks on rhinoceros teeth recovered from Spain’s El Castillo site and France’s Pech-de-l’Azé II. The researchers identified grooves, notches, sliding marks, and scrapes on the teeth that may have been caused by repeated hitting. Sanz-Royo and her colleagues then attempted to use rhino teeth collected from zoological reserves to shape stone tools and as anvils to cut vegetable fibers and leather. The resulting marks on the modern rhino teeth resembled those observed on the fossilized teeth. The experiments also suggest that Neanderthals chose teeth with the right size and shape for the job. “This study is important because it opens the possibility that, in addition to bones and antlers, teeth—which are a super-hard material—were also very useful,” Sanz-Royo concluded. To read about evidence from the Philippines of hominins butchering rhinos, go to "A Very Long Way to Eat Rhino."