Researchers examining prehistoric animal bone fragments from a Romanian cave have uncovered the first evidence of Neanderthal bone tool use in the country, revealing a previously undocumented aspect of Middle Paleolithic life in the region.
The findings come from Abri 122/1200 in the Vârghiș Gorges of central Romania. Researchers identified several bone fragments with wear that appears to have resulted from deliberate use. The study was published in the Journal of Quaternary Science.
The discovery is significant because similar bone tools associated with Neanderthals have been found at sites across Europe and parts of Asia. Romania, however, had remained a blank spot on that archaeological map.
Other discoveries have shown how easily prehistoric bone technology can escape notice. A nearly 500,000-year-old elephant bone tool found in England was recovered decades ago but was recognized as a tool only after researchers reexamined it with modern imaging techniques.
A second look at discarded bones
Abri 122/1200 contains evidence of Middle Paleolithic activity spanning roughly 230,000 to 60,000 years ago. Archaeologists Marian Cosac and George Murătoreanu of Valahia University of Târgoviște carried out excavations there in 2014.
The site has yielded stone artifacts as well as animal remains, including bones from bison and woolly rhinoceroses. Until now, none of the recovered bones had been firmly recognized as tools. The explanation may lie partly in how archaeological material was collected and studied in the past.
Stefan Vasile, a lecturer at the University of Bucharest, said earlier excavations often placed greater importance on complete specimens and larger pieces of bone. Small fragments could receive less attention. For the new research, the team treated those fragments as potential evidence rather than archaeological debris.
A tiny bone fragment is rewriting part of the Neanderthal story.
Researchers have uncovered the first evidence of Neanderthal bone tool use in Romania, showing that ancient people in the Carpathian region used bones for tasks such as scraping and sharpening. pic.twitter.com/KzGCzobu8x
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) August 11, 2026
Researchers inspected their surfaces under magnification. They looked for patterns of wear that could indicate repeated contact with other materials. Several pieces carried altered edges, microscopic marks and smooth areas consistent with practical use.
The evidence suggests the bones may have served as simple implements for several purposes, including working, scraping or sharpening materials.
Such evidence adds to a growing archaeological record of prehistoric toolmaking across southeastern Europe. In Croatia, researchers recently dated stone tools found in Mujina pećina to as much as 82,000 years ago, providing another glimpse of Middle Paleolithic activity in the region.
Researchers recreate prehistoric tasks
Microscopic marks alone were not enough to establish how the damage formed. The researchers, therefore, created modern bone implements and put them through controlled experiments.
They used the replicas in ways that could reproduce prehistoric activities and then studied the resulting damage. Comparing those patterns with the archaeological specimens allowed the team to determine whether the ancient marks were more consistent with use than with natural breakage or later damage.
The results support the conclusion that people at the site deliberately used some animal bones as tools.
Neanderthal remains remain elusive
The discovery does not solve every question surrounding Abri 122/1200. No Neanderthal skeletal remains have been recovered there, meaning researchers still lack direct biological evidence linking Neanderthals to the site.
The team is analyzing bones and searching soil samples for ancient DNA that could help establish a stronger biological link to Neanderthals. The sheer amount of material makes that difficult. “With so many fragments, it is like looking for the needle in the haystack,” Vasile said.
Genetic evidence has helped establish Neanderthal presence at other sites in the broader region. At Stajnia Cave in Poland, north of the Carpathians, scientists recovered Neanderthal DNA from eight teeth, revealing a group that lived there about 100,000 years ago.
Even without skeletal remains, the bone tools add an important piece to the archaeological picture. They suggest a behavior already known elsewhere in the Neanderthal world also reached the Carpathian region, where its traces may simply have been overlooked.
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