Neanderthal garb may have been simpler than museums like to imagine Patrick Bernard/AFP/Getty

Early modern humans dressed for ice age success – Neanderthals, not so much. An analysis of animal remains at prehistoric hominin sites across Europe suggests modern humans clad themselves in snug, fur-trimmed clothing, while Neanderthals probably opted for simple capes.

Even so, the finding suggests our extinct cousin was far more sophisticated than once thought.

Some researchers argue that Neanderthals didn’t bother with clothes at all, others that they dressed in much the same way as early members of our species. Mark Collard at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, and his colleagues think the truth lies somewhere in between.


The team examined a database of the mammals that lived between 60,000 and 24,000 years ago in ice age Europe. Next, they used a database of world cultures to identify those mammals now exploited for clothing by traditional peoples living at mid-to-high latitudes. Finally, they returned to the ice age database to compare the abundance of these animals at Neanderthal and modern human archaeological sites.

The researchers found that such mammals – including species of deer, bison and bear – were common at both sets of sites, consistent with the idea that both Neanderthals and modern humans wore clothes. But, importantly, the animals were generally more common at sites associated with our species.

There are a few ways to explain this finding. One is that modern humans produced complicated garments, each stitched together from several animal skins, so they caught more of these animals to have more material to work with. Neanderthals might have caught fewer of them because they wore much simpler clothes.

“It’s a great new perspective on Neanderthal clothing”

“The idea is that [Neanderthals] were making capes of fur,” says Collard. Some might simply have worn the skin of a large animal around their shoulders, he says, as Hercules is often depicted.

Modern humans, meanwhile, might have opted for a more practical – if less heroic – look; what Collard calls “close-fitting sewn garments”. A collection of 24,000-year-old carved figurines from Siberia suggest what the prevailing style might have been during the ice age, with hoodies in vogue.

A closer look at the databases potentially tells us even more about ice age styles, says Collard. Weasel, wolverine and dog remains are found at sites occupied by modern humans – but not at Neanderthal sites.

The fur of these animals is a mix of long and short hairs, which makes it an ideal as a trim added to sleeves or hoods for extra insulation. Collard thinks ice age humans could have used fur trims in this way. Neanderthals might have been left shivering in their untrimmed capes.

John Stewart at the University of Bournemouth, UK, who performed a similar analysis a decade ago, says it’s possible that the data tells us something about ice age clothing, but is cautious about jumping to conclusions. Bones at an archaeological site might represent the remains of animals hunted for food instead of fur, for instance, or that shared the same living space as hominins but were not actively exploited. “You need to look at the bones of the animals and find evidence that they were skinned – and you can’t do that by studying a database,” he says.

Collard, however, says that many of the more interesting species highlighted, including weasels and wolverines, are rarely caught for food today.

Stewart also thinks the database approach can overlook important information. For instance, the remains of some animals might be absent from Neanderthal sites because those mammals simply weren’t present in those areas at the same time as Neanderthals.

But other researchers say the work is important despite such concerns. “I think it’s a great new perspective on Neanderthal clothing,” says Nathan Wales at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. In particular, he regards the evidence that Neanderthals didn’t add fur trim to their clothing as quite strong.

Ice age style

If modern humans used fur trim early on, did that mean they had already developed a sense of style? Collard says present-day ethnographic data suggests otherwise: fur trim is generally added for function rather than fashion.

“However, I think there is reason to suspect that early modern human clothing had a stylistic dimension,” he says. “They produced beads and there appear to be multiple clear regional or stylistic groups.”

Ian Gilligan, formerly at the Australian National University in Canberra, says that the fashion probably began with the early modern humans, whereas Neanderthals lived generally fashion-free lives. “I suspect that it is only with fitted garments – what I call complex clothes – that symbolic and fashion elements become important.”

But Neanderthals might not have been completely clueless when it came to personal appearance (see box below). “We now know that Neanderthals were using coloured ochre – probably for body decoration and perhaps colouring clothes as well,” says Gilligan.

Journal reference: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2016.07.010

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