When picturing the daily lives of ancient hunter-gatherers, we often imagine small bands roaming the landscape, drinking water from streams, and perhaps drying meat over fires for preservation. But would you picture large-scale food production during the Neanderthal age? That seems unimaginable. Or, so we thought.
Recent excavations in Germany have revealed something that fundamentally changes our understanding of Neanderthal diets and lifestyles: a prehistoric fat factory.
A recent study published in Science Advances discovered that Neanderthals systematically extracted fat from bones on a large scale, a practice previously thought to have emerged only tens of thousands of years later. Scientists at the Leibniz Center for Archaeological Research and the Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution (LEIZA) uncovered remains at the Neumark-Nord 2 site near Halle in Saxony-Anhalt that suggested this practice.
Why Fat Was Important to Hunter-Gatherers
Diet has always played a central role in human evolution. Studying how our ancestors obtained proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids reveals how they adapted to harsh and changing environments over time. For hunter-gatherers who relied heavily on animal foods, fat was crucial, especially during the winter or spring when carbohydrates were scarce.
Women in recent foraging societies often used a bone grease extraction method to obtain fat. This involved smashing bones, particularly joint bones and vertebrae, into small fragments with stone hammers, then boiling them for hours until the valuable fat rose to the surface and could be skimmed off. It was time-consuming and labor-intensive, but for many groups it meant survival.
Read More: Did Neanderthals Bury Their Dead with Flowers? Shanidar Cave Findings Put Questions to Rest
Inside the Neanderthal Fat Factory
What makes the Neumark-Nord 2 discovery so striking is not just that Neanderthals cracked open bones to access the marrow – something well known – but that they also smashed them into tiny pieces to render out bone grease by heating them in water. This systematic practice dates back to a warm period 125,000 years ago, when the climate in the region resembled that of modern Europe.
Archaeologists found that on a lakeshore deliberately chosen for this purpose, Neanderthals processed the remains of at least 172 large animals, including deer, horses, and even bovids (cow relatives). The evidence suggests they butchered the animals at different sites, deposited body parts in protected locations, then later transported them to the lakeshore for grease rendering.
The scale of the operation was astonishing. More than 120,000 small bone fragments and over 16,000 flint tools and other artifacts were recovered from just 500 square feet. Bone fat production only pays off if there’s enough raw material to make the effort worthwhile, and clearly, these Neanderthals knew what they were doing.
Read More: A Neanderthal Fingerprint Points to Art, and Possibly Portraiture, Around 43,000 Years Ago
Seeing Neanderthals in a New Light
The Neumark-Nord site, discovered back in the 1980s, covers roughly 70 acres. In this region, Neanderthals hunted and processed a vast range of animal resources, including forest elephants — the largest land mammals of the Pleistocene — weighing up to 13 tons and providing the equivalent of over 2,000 adult daily rations in one kill.
When their hunts yielded more meat than they could immediately consume, they didn’t let it go to waste. They created food depots, storing fatty bones and other surplus body parts for later. These storage strategies ensured a stable year-round supply and were essential for survival in fluctuating climates and unpredictable hunting success.
According to the study, beyond food processing, Neanderthals also used fire strategically to modify vegetation in their environment. The diversity of animal species they processed, and the complexity of planning their activities across different locations, reveal a level of ecological understanding and logistical intelligence rarely attributed to them in the past.
This newly uncovered fat factory is now the earliest well-documented case of systematic grease rendering, predating similar Upper Paleolithic practices. It demonstrates that Neanderthals had specialized task sites devoted to extracting nutritionally crucial lipids, a sophisticated adaptation reflecting their ability to plan, cooperate, and secure survival in demanding environments.
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Science Advances. Large-scale processing of within-bone nutrients by Neanderthals, 125,000 years ago
American Antiquity. Revisiting Bone Grease Rendering in Highly Fragmented Assemblages
Having worked as a biomedical research assistant in labs across three countries, Jenny excels at translating complex scientific concepts – ranging from medical breakthroughs and pharmacological discoveries to the latest in nutrition – into engaging, accessible content. Her interests extend to topics such as human evolution, psychology, and quirky animal stories. When she’s not immersed in a popular science book, you’ll find her catching waves or cruising around Vancouver Island on her longboard.
