1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. Hey, brain 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: stuff is Christian Sager here. There are some things people 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: just can't live without, so we invented them way before 4 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: we ever invented writing, coats, knives, roofs. Fire. Turns out, 5 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: another thing our prehistoric precursors needed that we still need 6 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: today is the ability to stick one thing to another 7 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: thing and then you know, have them stay that way, 8 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: which is why Neanderthals had glue. They might have been cavemen, 9 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: but they weren't savages. Now Homo neanderthal insists used their glue, 10 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:43,919 Speaker 1: a viscous tar distilled from birch bark, to fix weapons 11 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: on the heads of a tool onto a halft or 12 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: maybe a handle, and Neanderthals were actually the leaders in 13 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: glue technology, beating US Homo sapiens to the punch by 14 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: more than a hundred thousand years. They began brewing tar 15 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: two thousand years ago, whereas the earliest evidence of modern 16 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: humans using tree resin as adhesive appears less than one 17 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: hundred thousand years ago. Research published in twenty eleven shows 18 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: that Neanderthals had the ability to create and control fire. 19 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: So does the fact Neanderthals could manipulate fire to produce tar, 20 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: prove they weren't as dimwitted as we like to assume. 21 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: Scientists have been curious about the process Neanderthals used to 22 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: make their glue. A new study published in the journal 23 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: Nature Scientific Reports suggests three different ways Neanderthal tar could 24 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: have been manufactured. After all, it had to be produced. 25 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,320 Speaker 1: This stuff wasn't just secreted from trees growing in the forest, 26 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: but how difficult was making tar? Tar making is definitely 27 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: a process no matter which way you go about it. 28 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: The research team figured that out through a fancy bit 29 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: of experimental archaeology. They dive eased three different potential methods 30 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: of extracting sticky stuff from birch bark. The ash mound method, 31 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: where tightly rolled layers of birch bark are covered in 32 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: ash and embers, the pit roll cigar roll method, where 33 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: one end of a birch roll is lit and placed 34 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: burning side down into a small collection pit, and the 35 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: raised structure method, where a birch bark container was placed 36 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: in a pit beneath an organic mesh which holds loosely 37 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,919 Speaker 1: rolled bark that is then covered with earth and fire. 38 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: After recreating the three tar production methods. The scientists assess 39 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 1: each according to three criteria the yield, temperature, and complexity. 40 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: The team found that though the simplest fastest method, the 41 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: ash mound method, yielded just a peace sized amount of tar, 42 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: the most complicated, time consuming method, that's the raised structure method, 43 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: produced fifteen to twenty times more and was so the 44 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: most efficient. They also observed that regulating the temperature of 45 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: the fire didn't make much of a difference to the product, 46 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,239 Speaker 1: even though they have no evidence that the Neanderthal way 47 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: of making tar was similar to any of their experimental methods, 48 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: making the connection between the birch bark, the fire, and 49 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: the tar would have required that Neanderthals possessed a proclivity 50 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 1: for abstract thought, So whether they were making easy, inefficient 51 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: tar instead of something like the high yield method requiring 52 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: a folded cup and a little grill made of sticks, 53 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: Neanderthals had something going for them. They were seriously using 54 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: their brains, and who knows, it's possible they started with 55 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: a method similar to one and then moved on to 56 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: another overtime. Today's episode was written by jess Lyn Shields, 57 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: produced by Tristan McNeil, and for more on this and 58 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: other top fis, please visit us at how stuff works 59 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 1: dot com, MH.