Tools Test Debunks 'Dumb Neanderthals' Theory

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But why did the Neanderthals disappear? For most of the history of modern anthropology, experts have assumed that Neanderthals were simply outsmarted by the newcomers arriving out of Africa.

"There's been a longstanding historical bias against the Neanderthals, in any number of categories -- technological prowess, hunting prowess, intelligence, reproductive abilities and success," said one expert in Neanderthal culture, Daniel Adler, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Connecticut. "The roots of this go back to the nineteenth century, and it's taken us a long time to shake this bias," he said.

Over the past few decades, however, the pendulum has swung back in favor of the Neanderthals, and numerous studies, including Eren's, "have put a whole bunch of nails in the coffin of this idea," Adler said.

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In their study, Eren's team used a process called flint knapping to create stone tools, just as Neanderthals or Homo sapiens would have done tens of thousands of years ago. "Flint knapping is essentially chipping or flaking certain types of stone -- flint, chert, obsidian -- that have predictable fracture patterns," Eren explained.

At about the time Neanderthals went extinct, they favored a broader stone tool archaeologists have called a "flake." On the other hand, Homo sapiens of the time were busy creating a narrower tool, dubbed the "blade." For most of the 20th century, anthropologists assumed that the blade was a technological advance over the Neanderthals' flake.

"This assumption was published in all the textbooks but has never been tested thoroughly," Eren said. Therefore, his team decided to create both tools from scratch and then pit the flake against the blade in terms of efficiency and utility.

The result: No clear winner. In fact, in some instances, the Neanderthals' flake worked slightly better than the Homo sapiens' blade, Eren said.

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