High in the Caucasus Mountains, buried beneath the cold floor of a limestone cave, archaeologists have found something small, sharp, and quietly revolutionary.
It is just about 9 centimeters long (3.5 inches) long—a polished shard of bone, shaped into a streamlined point, darkened by fire, and bearing faint traces of sticky tar. But this unassuming piece was once hafted to a wooden shaft, as part of a spear, and hurled towards unfortunate prehistoric creatures. It’s so specialized that it shatters the long-standing myth that Neanderthals were technologically stuck in the Stone Age.
This tiny artifact, unearthed in Mezmaiskaya Cave in southern Russia and only now fully studied, is the oldest bone projectile point ever discovered in Europe. And it was made from scratch by Neanderthals.
A Bone Point, and a Point Made
The find itself dates to between 70,000 and 80,000 years ago. It was a time when Neanderthals roamed a still-cooling Europe. Meanwhile, Homo sapiens were tens of thousands of years from arriving in Europe.
After being put to good use, the weapon laid in a layer of sediment packed with stone tools, animal bones, and a hearth built. This whole stash was found “in a natural hollow on top of a large limestone block,” say archaeologist Liubov V. Golovanova and her colleagues. The team’s analysis, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, reveals a sophisticated crafting process. The point was shaped from the dense cortical layer of a bison’s leg bone, then carefully scraped, ground, and polished using stone tools.
The closer they looked at it, the more interesting it got.
Under a microscope, the shallow grooves suggest meticulous shaping. Dark stains mark the heat of the fire used to harden the tip. And chemical traces confirm the presence of bitumen, a sticky tar Neanderthals extracted and used as glue—a technique that requires skill and planning. “The production technology of bone-tipped hunting weapons used by Neanderthals was in the nascent level in comparison to those used and introduced by modern humans,” the researchers note. Still, the signs of craftsmanship are there.
The weapon is narrow—only 6 millimeters wide at its base—and far too light for stabbing. This was no club; it was built for flight and piercing. And its owner used it. A small crack at the tip—and a network of even finer fractures behind it—suggest that the spear struck something hard, likely bone. The damage is consistent with impact trauma seen in experimental studies, where scientists recreate ancient weapons and throw them at targets to test their force.
Someone in that cave used this spear. And someone else, perhaps the same person, tried to repair it.
So What Does This Mean?
This is more than just an interesting find. The implications are significant. Until recently, many researchers assumed that Neanderthals only used stone tools, and that shaped bone weapons like this were a late invention of modern humans. This discovery proves otherwise. Neanderthals were experimenting with bone at least 30,000 years before Homo sapiens even reached Europe.
And this isn’t a one-off sign of cleverness. It joins a growing body of evidence that Neanderthals weren’t just our brutish cousins—they were creative, adaptable, and capable of symbolic thought. They used pigments like ochre, made jewelry, twisted plant fibers into rope, and shaped tools with deliberate technique.
Still, this bone point is unique. No other spear tip like it has been found in Europe, at least not yet. That raises a puzzle: if Neanderthals used these bone-tipped weapons regularly, why haven’t we found more?
The answer may lie in preservation. Bone decays more easily than stone, especially in open-air sites. Mezmaiskaya Cave, sheltered and cool, may simply have been a lucky time capsule. “Most probably decayed over time,” the researchers suggest, “because they were not left in places conducive to their survival.”
The cave itself offers more than just artifacts. It has yielded the DNA of three Neanderthals who lived there across tens of thousands of years, suggesting that this was a favored home base. Archaeologists found stone tools, campfire remnants, and piles of butchered bones from bison, deer, wild sheep, goats, and birds—all signs of a bustling place where tools were made, prey was processed, and perhaps stories were shared.
“Modern Human”
We often define “modern human behavior” with a list: long-distance weapons, symbolic art, adhesives, complex planning. And for a long time, it was assumed that only our species possessed these traits. But the spear point from Mezmaiskaya Cave is part of a quiet reevaluation underway in paleoanthropology.
Neanderthals, it seems, were not simply waiting to be replaced. They were innovating, too—often in parallel with us, sometimes even ahead of us. And while the tools they left behind may be scattered or rare, each one, especially something as rare as a bone spear point, speaks volumes.
Not just about who Neanderthals were—but about how we’ve underestimated them.
