Neanderthals Operated "Fat Factories" 125,000 Years Ago

[Judi Lynn]

July 4, 2025 Leiden University

Neanderthals systematically processed bones from at least 172 large mammals at a lakeside location in Germany 125,000 years ago, operating what researchers describe as a prehistoric “fat factory.”

The discovery at Neumark-Nord 2 fundamentally changes our understanding of Neanderthal food strategies, revealing sophisticated resource management that predates similar behaviors in other human groups by tens of thousands of years.

The evidence shows Neanderthals didn’t just crack open bones for marrow—they crushed massive quantities into tens of thousands of fragments to render calorie-rich bone grease through heating in water. This labor-intensive process required careful planning, specialized tools, and detailed knowledge of nutrition that challenges long-held assumptions about Neanderthal capabilities.

Organized Industrial-Scale Processing
“This was intensive, organised, and strategic,” explains Dr. Lutz Kindler, the study’s first author. “Neanderthals were clearly managing resources with precision—planning hunts, transporting carcasses, and rendering fat in a task-specific area.”

The site preserved exceptional evidence of this prehistoric industry. Researchers found over 118,000 bone fragments alongside 16,500 flint tools, hammerstones, and abundant signs of fire use. Most remarkably, two-thirds of the bone material measured smaller than 3 centimeters—the tiny fragments essential for efficient grease extraction.

More:
https://scienceblog.com/neanderthals-operated-fat-factories-125000-years-ago/

[bucolic_frolic]

1. "detailed knowledge of nutrition"

Asserting intellectual knowledge maybe a bit premature? They were hungry.

Shall we extrapolate further? Women's work is always in the kitchen.

The guy Neanderthals were sitting on logs watching Babes with Bones.

The girl nutritionists knew what they were doing, the pre-cursor of Keto diet.

Germany? The Drumpf's were there.

[70sEraVet]

2. Incidentally, it almost impossible to imagine this "Industrial-Scale processing"

taking place in a Neanderthal community without the use of a complex language!

[Shermann]

3. I'll pass on the bone grease soup

Fat can be a scarce survival resource at times, and you do what you gotta do. But that sounds unappetizing.

[pandr32]

6. They may have used it to cook grains, roots and plants.

I know they had diverse diets so using this grease and broth might have been flavorful--kind of like how we use fatty meats in broth. Calories, flavor, and nutrition. Stew.

[Shermann]

8. That's a good point

They probably did use it when cooking as opposed to just eating it. They weren't quite to the point of making Jell-O though!

[COL Mustard]

7. The marrow part would be good though.

It's my favorite part of osso buco.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Over the last few decades, scientific consensus on how intelligent Neanderthalers were...

has been moving towards more intelligence than previously thought.

[BoRaGard]

5. Sounds like the Neaderthals created the original Greaze Burger

[nuxvomica]

9. I wonder whether they used the fat for other reasons too

Processing such a commodity could give rise to discovering other uses for it beyond just nutritional, like medicines and greasing the wheels on their foot-powered cars.