Neanderthals Used Ancient Gloop as Antibacterial Medicine, Study Suggests

Relatives of modern humans may have created and used a sticky substance both as a glue and to treat their wounds, preempting modern medicine by as much as 200,000 years, a new study suggests.

Researchers have known that Neanderthals used birch tar, a viscous substance derived from birch bark, to glue spear points onto handles in a process known as hafting.

This substance has been found across Europe, and it served multiple purposes, including as some of history’s oldest water sealant and Hubba Bubba.

“Alongside these findings, there is also growing evidence of medicinal practices and the use of plants among Neanderthals, which is why we were interested in the use of birch tar in this context,” explains Tjaark Siemssen, an archaeologist at the University of Cologne and Oxford University and the study’s lead author.