Neanderthals created stone tools held together by a multi-component adhesive, a team of scientists has discovered. Its findings, which are the earliest evidence of a complex adhesive in Europe, suggest these predecessors to modern humans had a higher level of cognition and cultural development than previously thought.
I also remember reading in an article like this that there is not much of a difference between modern and neanderthal age brains as well, the difference is a longer recorded history and accumulated knowledge
That’s like we used to think early hominids all lived in caves, because that’s where we kept finding remains…
It took way to long to realize that’s just where conditions were best for remains and artifacts to stay preserved.
Most didn’t live in caves, if anything they were more like emergency shelters than every day homes.
I always imagined early hominids were just like us. Some were smarter, some less so. One of them might have a brilliant idea and invent some stuff like that adhesive, teaches his group about it. The only difference today is the spread of information. It’s not that we’re smarter, it’s that we’ve hugely improved our ability to share knowledge.