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Subject: Neanderthal wood hafting
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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027737912400516X
Wooden hafting technology in the early Neanderthal
site of Poggetti Vecchi (Italy)
1 December 2024

Abstract
The invention of hafted tools, between
about 500 Ka and 250 Ka years ago, was
a fundamental technological innovation
that has shaped human social, cognitive,
and biological capabilities. Despite the
recurrent evidence of hafting observed on
lithic tools, handles from this period are
rare since they were probably made of
perishable materials. Three exceptional
wooden sticks interpreted as handles have
been found in the Poggetti Vecchi site,
allowing a deeper investigation of the
technical capabilities of the early
Neanderthals who frequented the
site around 170,000 years ago. The
handles and the lithic tools with hafting
traces were analysed using a
techno-functional approach, suggesting
that they could have been attached to
each other to create a specific composite
hafted tool. The efficiency of the composite
hafted tool was tested through a detailed
experimental programme. The results
highlighted, for the first time, the complex
production processes used to create a
composite hafted tool that could have been
used to butcher the carcases of the large
fauna that are well attested at the site.