Neanderthal eagle talon jewelry found in Croatia

Polished eagle talons found in Croatia 100 years ago have been reexamined and researchers now believe the talons were worn by Neanderthals as jewelry 130,000 years ago.

However, a discovery that includes a University of Kansas researcher has found that some Neanderthals were more cognitively advanced than we knew. A set of eagle talons found in present-day Croatia dated approximately 130,000 years ago includes several marks and polishing facets that show they were manipulated into a piece of jewelry, said David Frayer, a professor emeritus of anthropology who was part of the study.

“Neanderthals are often thought of to be simple-minded mumbling, bumbling, stumbling fools,” Frayer said. “But the more we know about them the more sophisticated they’ve become.”

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Story: University of Kansas | Photo: Luka Mjeda