Neanderthals invented their own bone weapon technology by 80,000 years ago

Archaeologists recently unearthed a bone projectile point someone dropped on a cave floor between 70,000 and 80,000 years ago—which, based on its location, means that said someone must have been a Neanderthal.

The point (or in paleoarchaeologist Liubov V. Golovanova and colleagues’ super-technical archaeological terms, “a unique pointy bone artifact”) is the oldest bone tip from a hunting weapon ever found in Europe. It’s also evidence that Neanderthals figured out how to shape bone into smooth, aerodynamic projectiles on their own, without needing to copy those upstart Homo sapiens. Along with the bone tools, jewelry, and even rope that archaeologists have found at other Neanderthal sites, the projectile is one more clue pointing to the fact that Neanderthals were actually pretty sharp.

Getting to the point

Archaeologists found the bone point in Mezmaiskaya Cave, high in the Caucasus Mountains (Mezmaiskaya is also home to the remains of three Neanderthals who lived around 90,000 years ago; anthropologists sequenced samples of their DNA in earlier studies). Herbivore teeth from the same layer of sediment dated to around 70,000 years old, and the bone point’s position near the bottom of that layer probably makes it closer to 80,000 or 70,000 years old. That makes it the oldest bone projectile point ever found in Europe (so far).

At about 9 centimeters long and just 6 millimeters wide at its base, the point is much too light to be of much use as a thrusting weapon, which means it must have been meant to strike from a distance. And it’s shaped for the purpose, sleek and straight.

The point lay near an ancient hearth, which the Neanderthals had built “in a natural hollow on top of a large limestone block.” A few stone tools, along with debris from flint-knapping, lay scattered nearby, hinting that the Neanderthals probably sat near the hearth to make and retouch their tools. Ten thousand years before them, other Neanderthals had lived and died here. And thousands of years later, still others would leave behind more traces of their lives and handiwork.

But the bone spear tip, as Golovanova and colleagues point out, is unique (and pointy).

Paleolithic weaponsmithing 101

The point is shaped from the hard outer layer of bone (called cortical bone), probably from one of the massive leg bones of a bison. Under the microscope, Golovanova and colleagues could still see the grain pattern that marked where muscle once attached to the bone, even though the original knob of bone that formed the attachment had been ground flat and smooth by the Neanderthal who made the point.

Golovanova and colleagues’ microscopes also revealed shallow, parallel grooves where Neanderthal crafters had used stone tools and carefully scraped, ground, and polished the bone into exactly the right shape without breaking or splintering it. A couple of discolored spots also reveal that the point’s maker hardened its tip in a fire.

And if the tip doesn’t seem as sharp as you’d expect, Golovanova and colleagues say it’s sharp enough.

“To be an effective hunting weapon,” write the archaeologists, “the bone point does not need to have a sharply pointed (needle-like) distal end (in contrast to bone awls), but it needs to have a strong, conical tip, symmetrical outlines, and a straight profile.”

Boxes 1 and 2 highlight where the tip of the point is discolored from heating. Box 3 and the inset show the bitumen residue left behind from hafting.

Credit: Golovanova et al. 2025

Traces of bitumen, or tar, on the point—which Golovanova and colleagues identified using spectroscopy—show that it must have been secured to its wooden haft with the sticky substance. That’s also how Neanderthals mounted many of their stone tools, so it’s not surprising that they’d do the same with a bone point. But making and using tar or resin requires a fair amount of technical know-how, and it’s easy to get it wrong and end up with an unusable mess.

Earlier hominins made bone tools, too; archaeologists have found a hippo femur hand ax made by Homo erectus and even some knapped bone dating back 1.5 million years. But those tools were roughly shaped, using the same chipping and flaking methods their makers would have used on stone. For some things, that works, but for something like the streamlined spear point from Mezmaiskaya, working bone takes different techniques: less flaking, more grinding.