After spending three years chipping away at rocks a team of researchers has concluded that the stone tools used by our ancestors were no better than those used by Neanderthals. This, they say, means we should stop calling Neanderthals stupid.

In a paper due to be published today in the Journal of Human Evolution Metin Eren and colleagues report their comparison of wide flint ‘flakes’ used by Neanderthals and the narrower ‘blades’ used by Homo sapiens.

“Technologically speaking, there is no clear advantage of one tool over the other,” says Eren, a researcher at the University of Exeter (press release). “When we think of Neanderthals, we need to stop thinking in terms of ‘stupid’ or ‘less advanced’ and more in terms of ‘different’.”

The team compared how costly the two tools were to produce – in terms of raw materials – along with their longevity and the size of the cutting edge. Eren says the presumed superiority of blades over flakes has been considered a sign of the more advanced nature of Homo sapiens.

“It is time for archaeologists to start searching for other reasons why Neanderthals became extinct while our ancestors survived,” says Eren.

Headline watch

Why Neanderthal man may not have been as stupid as he looks – Independent

Stone me – he’s smart, he’s tough and he’s equal to any Homo sapiens – The Scotsman

Neanderthals ‘were not stupid’ – PA

Image: University of Exeter