Neanderthals living in cold regions today almost certainly dressed from head to toe in leather and fur. Unfortunately, archaeologists have never found Neanderthal clothing or remains. LiveScience spoke to several scientists about this topic.

Clothing of Neanderthals

The habitat of Neanderthals extended into northern Siberia. Their broad chests, noses, shoulders and pelvis, as well as short limbs, allowed them to maintain body heat in the cold climate they lived in. One of the ways to maintain such a physique was to eat lots of meat, which also increased the amount of heat the body produced. They can also warm up by being active and sitting by the fire while resting.

But they definitely needed another barrier beyond their own skin to maintain their internal body temperature. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were various coverings for the face as well as the head, arms, legs, hands, feet.
says Cara Okobok, who studies human biology at the University of Notre Dame.

Although there is evidence of ancient clothing from modern humans anatomically closer to us in time, no one has yet found such evidence at Neanderthal sites. Okobok says we will probably never have archaeological evidence of Neanderthal clothing. For example, we have a 5,000-year-old Ezi man’s skin suit found frozen in ice, but Neanderthals lived much earlier; They arrived in Europe about 400,000 years ago, and the last individuals disappeared about 40,000 years ago.

However, scientists draw the following conclusions from indirect evidence:

• A stone scraper from the Neumark-Nord find site in Germany found a small amount of remains that were probably trapped during the processing of hides 200,000 years ago. Among other things, these remains contained acid from oak bark that could be used to tan or preserve animal hides. However, it is not clear whether these marks appear as a result of the manufacture of clothing or fur blankets or as a result of another event completely unrelated to this process.
• Sharp stone and bone awls found at the Late Anderthal site in central France indicate that these ancient people made tools specifically for fastening skins together for clothing or shelter. But even here we have no evidence that these tools were used specifically for fastening skins for clothing purposes, and not, for example, for making beds or forming shelter walls.
• An analysis of the genetics of lice suggests that at least one species of lice was introduced into Homo sapiens from another ancient human population (possibly Neanderthals) 100,000 years ago. Since lice live on clothing, this suggests that the original population wore clothing at least at that time.
• Nearly all Neanderthals had much more wear on their front teeth than on their back teeth; This means they use their mouths to hold and move objects, not just to eat. This type of tooth wear in Neanderthals is similar to the tooth wear of modern Inuit, who used their teeth to soften animal skins, which were then used to make clothing.

Earliest direct evidence of Neanderthal fiber technology a piece of three-layered cord attached to a stone tool It is from a site in southeastern France dating to between 41,000 and 52,000 years ago. Strings and threads can be used to make nets, baskets, traps, and can also be turned into shoes and fabric.

Another thing we need to pay attention to when researching this issue is freezing, says bioanthropologist Sarah Lacey from the University of Delaware. Frostbite can be a problem even for modern people with reliable heat sources and special clothing. This must have been an important issue for people who did not have technology and lived in cold climates.

If Neanderthals didn’t wear clothes, should we expect them to cut off their fingers, toes and noses?
– Lacey says.

Since Neanderthal skeletons show no signs of frostbite, this supports the idea that they wore protection. Okobok noted that Neanderthals probably protected their genitals from the cold with a type of “Neanderthal bandage.”

What were their clothes?

Although most researchers agree that Neanderthals wore clothes, the question of exactly what clothes they had is still controversial. In the past, scientists believed that Neanderthals wore simple bands or loose cloaks around their waists. But given their intelligence, Lacey believes they’re doing much more than that.

Looking at modern Inuit clothing, which includes a basic parka, trousers and boots, Lacy suspects that Neanderthal men and women probably had similar clothing; Women’s clothing may be a little looser to accommodate pregnancy.

Neanderthal babies may have been swaddled in fur while away from their caregivers.