--- title: Neanderthals May Have Had the Ability to Make Tools, Researchers Find description: A multipurpose bone tool dating back to before the Stone Age was discovered in France canonical: https://time.com/3668690/neanderthals-homo-sapiens-bone-tool-discovery-research/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-15T07:59:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:35:39.184Z article:section: Science og:title: Neanderthals May Have Been as Smart as Us og:description: Researchers discovered a pre–Stone Age bone tool in France. og:url: https://time.com/3668690/neanderthals-homo-sapiens-bone-tool-discovery-research/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Neanderthals May Have Been as Smart as Us twitter:description: Researchers discovered a pre–Stone Age bone tool in France. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Neanderthals May Have Used Tools, Making Them Smarter Than We Thought by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 15, 2015 7:59 AM UTC by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 15, 2015 7:59 AM UTC A [new discovery](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150114101528.htm) suggests that Neanderthals, the immediate ancestors of human beings, may not have been as technologically inferior to our species as previously thought. Researchers from the University of Montreal found a multipurpose bone tool in Burgundy, France, that dates back to the Neanderthal era, Science Daily reported. “It proves that Neanderthals were able to understand the mechanical properties of bone and knew how to use it to make tools, abilities usually attributed to our species, Homo sapiens,” said Luc Doyon, a University of Montreal anthropologist who participated in the excavation. The pre–Stone Age implement is the first of its kind ever discovered, and challenges a long-held assumption that Neanderthals did not have the cognitive ability to create tools. Marks on the artifact, supposedly fashioned from the left femur of a reindeer, indicate that it was used as a scraper, a sharpener for stone tools and a device to puncture meat. \[[_Science Daily_](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150114101528.htm)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3668690/neanderthals-homo-sapiens-bone-tool-discovery-research/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3668690/neanderthals-homo-sapiens-bone-tool-discovery-research/"},"headline":"Neanderthals May Have Used Tools, Making Them Smarter Than We Thought","datePublished":"2015-01-15T07:59:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:35:39.184Z","description":"A multipurpose bone tool dating back to before the Stone Age was discovered in France","url":"https://time.com/3668690/neanderthals-homo-sapiens-bone-tool-discovery-research/","keywords":["Archaeology","France","Evolution","Discovery"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/archaeology/","name":"Archaeology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3668690/neanderthals-homo-sapiens-bone-tool-discovery-research/","name":"Neanderthals May Have Used Tools, Making Them Smarter Than We Thought"}}]}] ```