Mammoth tusk tool may have been used to make ropes 37,000 years ago
Experiments with a replica suggest that a piece of mammoth ivory with carved holes found in a cave in Germany was used by ancient humans to make ropes
By Michael Le Page
31 January 2024
A carved piece of ivory possibly used by ancient humans to make ropes
Conard et al, Sci. Adv. 10, eadh5217 (2024)
A 37,000-year-old piece of mammoth ivory with four carved holes found in a cave in Germany was a tool for making ropes, researchers have concluded, not an artwork as previously thought.
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“You can make rope with it very easily, and the rope’s very strong,” says Nicholas Conard at the University of Tübingen in Germany. “Of course, that doesn’t mean that’s the only thing it could be. But compared to saying that it’s a symbol of power or some sort of artwork, I think the rope hypothesis is a pretty good one.”
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The piece of ivory was found in 2015 in the Hohle Fels cave in the Ach valley in south-west Germany. It hasn’t been dated directly to avoid damaging it, but based on where it was found it must be at least 35,000 years old, and is most likely around 37,000 years old, says Conard, and it was probably made by modern humans. Another study published today shows that modern humans were living in a part of Germany as early as 45,000 years ago.
The artefact consists of a flattened stick of ivory split from a mammoth tusk. It is around 21 centimetres long, with four holes with spiral grooves carved in a row along one end.
“To me it looked like these spirals were indicative of putting something through it,” says Conard. Sure enough, a microscopic examination revealed traces of plant fibres in the grooves. The end without holes looked like a handle, he thought.
