Eagle talons are regarded as the first materials used to make jewellery by Neanderthals, a practice which spread around Southern Europe about 120,000 and 40,000 years ago. Now, for the first time, researchers have found evidence of the ornamental uses of eagle talons in the Iberian Peninsula.

An article published in the cover of the journal Science Advances talks about the findings, which took place in the site of the cave Foradada in Calafell. The research was led by Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo, researcher at the Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA) and member of the research team in a project of the Prehistoric Studies and Research Seminar (SERP) of the UB.

The interest in these findings lies in the fact that it is the most modern piece of the kind so far regarding the Neanderthal period and the first one found in the Iberian Peninsula . This circumstance widens the temporary and geographical limits that were estimated for this kind of Neanderthal ornament . This would be “the last necklace made by the Neanderthals,” according to Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo.

source ancient-origins.net