Neanderthals in central Germany 125,000 years ago employed an advanced method of food preparation, according to a recent study: systematically stripping fat from the bones of large animals using water and heat. The practice, uncovered at the Neumark-Nord 2 archaeological site, shows that Neanderthals had a much more advanced conception of nutrition, planning, and resource management than previously believed.
根据最近的一项研究，12.5，000年前，德国中部的尼安德特人采用了一种先进的食物制备方法：系统地使用水和热量从大型动物的骨头中剥离脂肪。这种做法在Neumark-Nord 2考古遗址上发现，表明尼安德特人对营养，计划和资源管理的概念比以前认为的要高得多。
The research, published in Science Advances, was conducted by international researchers from MONREPOS (Leibniz Centre for Archaeology), Leiden University in the Netherlands, and the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt. The study indicates that Neanderthals, in addition to smashing bones to access the marrow—a behavior shared by their earliest African ancestors—also crushed them into fragments and boiled them to obtain bone grease, a nutrient-rich resource.
该研究发表在《科学进步》上，是由蒙雷波斯（莱布尼兹考古中心），荷兰莱顿大学的国际研究人员以及萨克森 - 安哈尔特州遗产管理和考古学的州办公室进行的。该研究表明，除了砸碎骨头以获取骨髓（由他们最早的非洲祖先所共有的行为）外，尼安德特人还将它们粉碎成碎片，并将其煮沸以获得骨油脂，这是一种营养丰富的资源。
“This was intensive, organized, and strategic,” said Dr. Lutz Kindler, the study’s lead author. “Neanderthals were clearly managing resources with caution—planning hunts, transporting carcasses, and rendering fat in a task-specific area. They understood both the nutritional value of fat and how to access it efficiently.”
该研究的主要作者卢兹·金德勒（Lutz Kindler）博士说：“这是密集，有条理的和战略的。”“尼安德特人显然是在谨慎管理资源 - 计划狩猎，运输尸体和在特定于任务的领域渲染脂肪。他们既了解脂肪的营养价值又了解如何有效地获得脂肪的营养价值。”
At least 172 large mammals, such as deer, horses, and aurochs, were butchered here. The production of bone grease, which required huge quantities of bone to be worthwhile, was previously considered to be something limited to Upper Paleolithic modern humans. This find pushes back the timeline by thousands of years and represents a fundamental shift in our knowledge of Neanderthal diet and adaptation.
这里至少有172种大型哺乳动物，例如鹿，马和Aurochs。骨油脂的产生需要大量的骨骼值得，以前被认为仅限于上旧石器时代的现代人类。这一发现将时间表推迟了数千年，这代表了我们对尼安德特人饮食和适应性的了解的根本转变。
The Neumark-Nord complex, discovered in the 1980s by archaeologist Dietrich Mania, is a full interglacial ecosystem. Excavations from 2004 to 2009 revealed several zones with various Neanderthal activities: deer hunting and light butchering in one, straight-tusked elephant processing in another, and fat removal in a third, specialized area. Remarkably, cut-marked remains of 76 rhinos and 40 elephants were also discovered at nearby sites like Taubach.
Neumark-Nord综合体是由考古学家Dietrich Mania在1980年代发现的，它是一个完整的冰川生态系统。从2004年到2009年的发掘揭示了几个尼安德特人活动的区域：猎鹿和轻便屠杀，在另一个地区进行直截了当的大象加工，而在第三个专业区域中除去了脂肪。值得注意的是，在陶巴赫（Taubach）等附近的地点也发现了76个犀牛和40只大象的砍伐遗体。
“What makes Neumark-Nord so exceptional is the preservation of an entire landscape, not just a single site,” said Leiden University’s Prof. Wil Roebroeks. “We are seeing a range of Neanderthal behaviors within the same landscape.”
莱顿大学的威尔·罗布罗克（Wil Roebroeks）说：“是什么使诺伊姆克·诺德（Neumark-Nord）如此出色的是整个景观的保存，而不仅仅是一个地点。”“我们在同一景观中看到了一系列尼安德特人的行为。”
The activities of the Neanderthals at Neumark-Nord not only demonstrate high sophistication but were also likely to have long-term environmental impacts. Prof. Roebroeks warned that their mass hunting of slow-reproducing species undoubtedly left a significant impact on fauna in the region during the Last Interglacial period.
Neumark-Nord的尼安德特人的活动不仅表现出很高的成熟程度，而且还可能产生长期的环境影响。Roebroeks教授警告说，他们对缓慢产生的物种的大规模狩猎无疑在最后一个冰川时期对该地区的动物区系产生了重大影响。
The finds depict the Neanderthals as more capable and more intelligent than the stereotype of the brutish caveman. The “fat factory” at Neumark-Nord reveals a species that could plan for the future, manage its environment, and maximize nutrition in resource-poor environments.
这些发现将尼安德特人描述为比残酷的穴居人的刻板印象更有能力，更聪明。Neumark-Nord的“胖工厂”揭示了一个可以为未来计划，管理其环境并最大化资源贫乏环境中营养的物种。
