Dig site in Tuscany reveals Neanderthals used fire to make tools
Bob Yirka
Wood, as the researchers note, has always been a popular material for crafting tools and weapons. The sticks were found at a site in Tuscany, Italy, called Poggetti Vecchi—an area that has previously given up Neanderthal artifacts. In studying the sticks, the researchers found them to be made from boxwood, a particularly hard wood. The team notes that modern hunter-gatherers use roughly the same technique in making their digging sticks. Wooden tools and fire technology in the early Neanderthal site of Poggetti Vecchi (Italy),(2018).