From Andrew Masterson at Cosmos:
The development and employment of tar in tool-making, however, implies a significant level of intelligence in its makers.
“Neanderthals must have been able to recognise certain material properties, such as adhesive tack and viscosity,” the scientists conclude.
“In this way, they could develop the technology from producing small traces of tar on partially burned bark to techniques capable of manufacturing quantities of tar equal to those found in the Middle Paleolithic archaeological record.”More.
Some science writers might need to find another dumb primate that isn’t an ape (because for PC reasons they wouldn’t b allowed to call th ape dumb).
See also: Neanderthal Man: Neanderthal technology was hardly dumb
The long-lost relative turns up again, this time with documents
and
A deep and abiding need for Neanderthals to be stupid. Why?