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PNAS

Neandertals made the first specialized bone tools in Europe

Overview of attention for article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, August 2013
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (98th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
60 news outlets
blogs
13 blogs
twitter
68 X users
facebook
5 Facebook pages
wikipedia
6 Wikipedia pages
googleplus
1 Google+ user
reddit
3 Redditors
video
2 YouTube creators

Citations

dimensions_citation
189 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
326 Mendeley
citeulike
1 CiteULike
Title
Neandertals made the first specialized bone tools in Europe
Published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, August 2013
DOI 10.1073/pnas.1302730110
Pubmed ID
Authors

Marie Soressi, Shannon P. McPherron, Michel Lenoir, Tamara Dogandžić, Paul Goldberg, Zenobia Jacobs, Yolaine Maigrot, Naomi L. Martisius, Christopher E. Miller, William Rendu, Michael Richards, Matthew M. Skinner, Teresa E. Steele, Sahra Talamo, Jean-Pierre Texier

Abstract

Modern humans replaced Neandertals ∼40,000 y ago. Close to the time of replacement, Neandertals show behaviors similar to those of the modern humans arriving into Europe, including the use of specialized bone tools, body ornaments, and small blades. It is highly debated whether these modern behaviors developed before or as a result of contact with modern humans. Here we report the identification of a type of specialized bone tool, lissoir, previously only associated with modern humans. The microwear preserved on one of these lissoir is consistent with the use of lissoir in modern times to obtain supple, lustrous, and more impermeable hides. These tools are from a Neandertal context proceeding the replacement period and are the oldest specialized bone tools in Europe. As such, they are either a demonstration of independent invention by Neandertals or an indication that modern humans started influencing European Neandertals much earlier than previously believed. Because these finds clearly predate the oldest known age for the use of similar objects in Europe by anatomically modern humans, they could also be evidence for cultural diffusion from Neandertals to modern humans.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 68 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 326 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Portugal 3 <1%
Spain 3 <1%
United States 3 <1%
Italy 2 <1%
United Kingdom 2 <1%
Brazil 1 <1%
Sweden 1 <1%
Ireland 1 <1%
Australia 1 <1%
Other 7 2%
Unknown 302 93%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 62 19%
Student > Ph. D. Student 61 19%
Student > Master 46 14%
Student > Bachelor 29 9%
Professor 23 7%
Other 60 18%
Unknown 45 14%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Arts and Humanities 105 32%
Social Sciences 56 17%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 42 13%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 27 8%
Environmental Science 10 3%
Other 30 9%
Unknown 56 17%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 632. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 02 February 2024.
All research outputs
#35,202
of 25,537,395 outputs
Outputs from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#1,000
of 103,321 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#178
of 209,657 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#14
of 896 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,537,395 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 103,321 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 39.5. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 209,657 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 896 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.