Neanderthals wielded rhino teeth as sophisticated stone-working tools

Across a dozen Middle Paleolithic sites in France and Spain, researchers have found evidence that Neanderthals deliberately selected rhinoceros teeth — choosing larger, flatter specimens — to serve as hammers and anvils in the crafting of stone tools and the cutting of fiber and leather. The discovery, confirmed through experimental replication and microscopic analysis, suggests not improvisation but intention: a systematic extraction of utility from hunted animals that mirrors the resourcefulness long attributed only to modern humans. In revising what we thought we knew about our extinct cous