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NEANDERTHALS had the brains to catch and eat birds, a skill many had assumed was beyond them. Bones found in Gibraltar suggest Neanderthals hunted wild pigeons, possibly by climbing steep cliffs to reach their nests.
鈥淣eanderthals were seen as too brutish to catch fast prey,鈥� says Clive Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum. His team studied 1724 bones of rock doves, the wild ancestors of domestic pigeons, from Gorham鈥檚 Cave in Gibraltar, a trove of Neanderthal relics.
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The bird bones were buried between 28,000 and 67,000 years ago. Most date from a time when only Neanderthals lived in the area, before modern humans arrived around 40,000 years ago.
Of the bones examined, 158 had burn marks, 28 had cut marks and 15 had human-like tooth marks. These marked bones were found in 58 per cent of the Neanderthal zones, as well as the only modern human zone. That suggests Neanderthals hunted and ate the doves for thousands of years (Scientific Reports, ).
鈥淭his provides the first evidence for sustained and significant use of birds for food by Neanderthals,鈥� says Donald Grayson of the University of Washington in Seattle. 鈥淸It is] even more evidence that Neanderthal hunting and foraging abilities were on a par with those of modern humans.鈥�
Rock doves nest on high cliff ledges, so the Neanderthals might have climbed up to get them, says Finlayson. 鈥淚 think they might have had snares or netting made from grasses, but we鈥檒l never know as it鈥檚 all perishable.鈥�
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淣eanderthals caught and cooked pigeons鈥�