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Neandertals Tooled Around with Clams¹

Around 100,000 years ago, in what is now Italy, our Neandertal cousins waded² out into the shallow coastal³ waters of the Mediterranean⁴ Sea in search of clams. They grabbed the mollusks from the seafloor and perhaps even dived for them in deeper water. And they also simply collected clams from the beach. But the creatures weren’t just food.

大约10万年前，在今天的意大利，我们的尼安德特人的表亲们为了寻找蛤蚌，涉水进入了地中海沿岸的浅水。他们从海底抓住软体动物，甚至潜入更深的水里寻找。他们还从海滩上收集蛤蚌。但是这些生物不仅仅是食物。

In a recent study, University of Colorado, Boulder⁵, archaeologist Paola Villa⁶ and her team report that Neandertals modified the clams’ hard shells into tools for cutting and scraping. The clam-derived implements⁷ were found inside the Grotta dei Moscerini, a coastal cave that was first rediscovered around 85 years ago.

在最近的一项研究中，科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的考古学家保拉·维拉和她的团队称，尼安德特人将蛤蜊的硬壳改造成了切割和刮擦的工具。这些源自钳子的器具是在海岸洞穴Grotta dei Moscerini内发现的，该洞穴于85年前首次被重新发现。

By examining wear and tear on the shells, the researchers determined⁸ that about 75 percent of the tool source material had been found dead on the beach. These shells had been worn down from being battered⁹ by waves and sand. But the remaining shells were smooth and shiny, indicating that the clams were still alive on the seafloor when they were gathered.

通过检查外壳的磨损情况，研究人员确定，大约75%的工具源材料是在海滩上发现的。这些贝壳是被海浪和沙子打穿的。但是，剩下的贝壳光滑而有光泽，这表明当它们被收集起来的时候，蛤蜊还活着。

These shells were also thicker and therefore might have made more durable¹⁰ tools. So even though gathering¹¹ clams underwater took more work than picking them up on the beach, the effort may have been worth it.

这些外壳更厚，因此可能制造出更耐用的工具。因此，尽管在水下收集蛤蜊比在海滩上收集要花费更多的时间，但这种努力是值得的。

Also found in the Grotta dei Moscerini were pumice stones from volcanic¹² eruptions¹³ that had occurred to the south of the site. Those stones may have been used by Neandertals as abrasive¹⁴ tools.

在Grotta dei Moscerini中还发现了来自火山喷发的浮石，这些火山喷发发生在该遗址的南部。这些石头可能被尼安德特人用作磨具。

The study is in the journal PLOS ONE.

这项研究发表在《公共科学图书馆·综合》杂志上。

Neandertals were making these tools more than 50,000 years before modern humans first arrived in Western Europe. But Neandertal intelligence was dismissed by the scientific community during much of the 20th century. In recent years, however, evidence of their tool use and even artistic¹⁵ abilities has grown. Neandertals hunted, made cave art, cooked with fire, used boats and went fishing. Just last year, for example, research by Villa and others found that Neandertals living not far from the Grotta dei Moscerini site used resin¹⁶ adhesives¹⁷ to attach handles to stone tools.

尼安德特人制造这些工具的时间比现代人类首次到达西欧早了5万多年。但在20世纪的大部分时间里，尼安德特人的智力被科学界所忽视。然而，近年来，关于他们使用工具甚至艺术能力的证据越来越多。尼安德特人打猎，制作洞穴艺术品，用火做饭，用船和钓鱼。例如，去年，维拉等人的研究发现，居住在离格罗塔·德·莫瑟里尼遗址不远的尼安德特人使用树脂粘合剂将手柄固定在石器上。

They may have gone extinct some 40,000 years ago, but it’s becoming ever more clear that Neandertals were intelligent, creative people—who led fully¹⁸ human lives.

尼安德特人可能在大约4万年前就灭绝了，但越来越清楚的是，他们是聪明、有创造力的人，过着完全符合人类的生活。