How Neanderthals were Annealed: Chemistry for Fire Extraction

During excavations in the south-west of France, archaeologists from the Netherlands, studying the habitats of Neanderthals, found pieces of manganese dioxide, which obviously did not get there by chance. According to scientists from Leiden University and Delft Technical University, Neanderthals could reveal the secret of this mineral, which is a catalyst for oxidative reactions, in order to use it to simplify the process of mining and maintaining fire.

It was previously believed that manganese dioxide was used by ancient people exclusively for decorative purposes. However, it is always possible to find coal abundantly in the field of camp sites, and one should not waste time and energy searching for manganese dioxide, which, although it occurs quite often, still needs to be looked for specially.
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On the pieces, scientists found traces of grinding, which allowed them to assume that the mineral was crushed into powder and added to the branches and chips, so that they would inflame better. In laboratory experiments, archaeologists were able to find out that the temperature required for a campfire, where the powder was added, drops by as much as 100 degrees. Using such a chemical additive to make a fire 50,000 years ago without special tools would be much easier.



Prior to this, the use of manganese dioxide for campfire scientists did not come across. If you do not accept the hypothesis to facilitate the kindling of a fire, it is difficult to explain why Neanderthals needed to spend time and energy on searching for manganese dioxide. After all, manganese oxide has approximately the same color and coloring properties, while at the fireplaces, only dioxide is found.


Reconstruction of the Neanderthal head Shanidar-I. John Gurch, 2010. National Museum of Natural History, Washington

In modern science, one of the theories of the origin of modern people is the assumption of the crossing of Neanderthals with Cro-Magnons and other representatives of the Human kind. The first people with the features of the Proton-Addertalts existed in Europe even 600–350 thousand years ago, the last Neanderthals lived 25–35 thousand years ago.