Photo Credit: Tjaark Siemssen
Scientific Frontline: Extended "At a Glance" Summary: Neanderthal Use of Birch Tar for Wound Care
The Core Concept: Birch tar, a viscous substance derived from birch bark, exhibits notable antimicrobial properties and was likely utilized by Neanderthals as a medicinal treatment for wounds, rather than exclusively as an adhesive.
Key Distinction/Mechanism: While archaeologists traditionally classified birch tar as an adhesive for hafting stone tools, recent experimental extractions replicating Pleistocene conditions (such as underground dry distillation) demonstrated that the tar actively inhibits the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium responsible for severe wound infections.
Origin/History: A recent collaborative study published in PLOS One by the University of Cologne, University of Oxford, University of Liège, and Cape Breton University experimentally reconstructed Neanderthal tar extraction methods to confirm its medicinal viability.
Major Frameworks/Components:
- Experimental Archaeology: Reconstructing ancient production techniques, including burning birch bark in sealed underground pits to achieve dry distillation, or burning it against stone surfaces to collect condensation.
- Antimicrobial Analysis: Testing the resulting tar extracts in controlled settings to measure their efficacy against modern, multi-drug-resistant bacterial strains.
- Ethnographic Analogy: Using global ethnographic records of plant and tar-based medicinal practices to contextualize the archaeological residues found on Neanderthal sites.
Branch of Science: Archaeology, Microbiology, Paleobotany, and Paleoanthropology.
Future Application: The study of prehistoric and ethnographic medicinal practices may inspire new, targeted approaches or natural antimicrobial derivatives to help combat the modern crisis of multi-drug-resistant hospital-acquired pathogens.
Why It Matters: These findings fundamentally shift the understanding of early hominid culture, suggesting that Neanderthals possessed a sophisticated, targeted knowledge of plant-based medicinal properties, while also providing historical perspective on human adaptation to bacterial threats.
In a new study conducted by the University of Cologne, the University of Oxford, the University of Liège and Cape Breton University in Canada, researchers used methods that Neanderthals also used to produce birch tar and to analyze its antibacterial properties. The results indicate that Neanderthals may have used birch tar not only as an adhesive to assemble tools, but also to treat wounds. The study ‘Antibacterial properties of experimentally produced birch tar and its medicinal affordances in the Pleistocene’ was published in the journal PLOS One.
Birch tar is a viscous substance extracted from birch bark and is commonly found on Neanderthal archaeological sites in Europe. As birch tar residues are often found attached directly to stone artefacts, archaeologists long assumed that it was mainly used as an adhesive for hafting. Hafting is a method used to join several pieces together, for example in toolmaking. “However, new studies suggest that birch tar may also have been used for other purposes,” says Tjaark Siemssen of the University of Cologne and Oxford University, who is leading the current study. Ethnographic findings from a wide variety of global contexts show that it is also used for medicinal purposes, amongst other things. “Alongside these findings, there is also growing evidence of medicinal practices and the use of plants among Neanderthals, which is why we were interested in the use of birch tar in this context,” says Siemssen.
The researchers extracted tar experimentally from birch species that already existed during the Neanderthal era. They specifically employed extraction methods reconstructed from Neanderthal contexts. In one process, for example, birch bark was burned underground in a sealed pit. The absence of oxygen results in a dry distillation, extracting the birch tar from the bark. Another method involved burning birch bark next to a hard surface, such as a stone, so that the tar condenses on the surface of the stone.
The researchers tested the birch tar samples they had collected to investigate their antimicrobial properties. All of the tar samples were found to be effective at hindering the growth of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. S. aureus is a bacterium that plays a major role in wound infections and is now classified as a multi-drug-resistant hospital-acquired pathogen. The antimicrobial properties of birch tar are evident across all extraction methods. “The findings suggest that antimicrobial properties played a role as far back as the time of the early Neanderthals and could have been used in a targeted manner,” explains Siemssen.
In addition to the archaeological findings, which contribute to a better understanding of Neanderthal culture, the results are also relevant considering the global rise in bacterial resistance to common antibiotics. “Our findings show that it might be worthwhile to examine targeted antibiotics from ethnographic contexts – or, as in this case, from prehistoric contexts – in greater depth,” concludes Siemssen.
Published in journal: PLOS One
Authors: Tjaark Siemssen, Aderonke Oludare, Marcel Schemmel, Janos Puschmann, and Matthias Bierenstiel
Source/Credit: University of Cologne
Reference Number: arch031926_01
.jpg)
.jpg)