What could be the last necklace made by Neanderthals has been discovered in a cave in Spain, with researchers unearthing eagle talons that had been used as a personal ornament some 39,000 years ago.
The talons were found in the Foradada cave in the Iberian Peninsula. This is an archaeological site that was thought to have been occupied by Neanderthals of the Châtelperronian culture in the Middle Paleolithic—a period that very broadly starts about 200,000 years ago and ends between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago, around the time the Neanderthals went extinct.
Evidence of Neanderthals making jewelry from eagle talons is not a new discovery. Talons have previously been found at several different cave sites associated with ancient relatives. However, these tend to be within a fairly concentrated area of southern Europe, including Croatia, Italy and France. Most of these date to between about 130,000 years and 50,000 years.
In these cases, archaeologists analyzed the cut marks that had been made when processing the talons to show they had been purposefully removed from the eagle for ornamental use. This, researchers have suggested, shows Neanderthals were capable of "symbolic behavior."
