Neanderthal's microlithic tool production and use, the case of Tata (Hungary)

Several Western and Central European archaeological sites from the Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 5 to 3 yielded microlithic assemblages made by Neanderthals. The European Prehistory lacks a thorough study of these small artifacts to understand their meaning, potential function and to investigate Neanderthal capabilities, behaviours and conception of their tool kit. We propose here to describe the microlithic artifacts from Tata (Hungary) using both typo-technological and functional (usewear analysis) approaches to understand how and what for these tools were made and used. The results show that these stone artifacts were produced using two main reduction sequences. The overall outline of the tools was probably not of great interest for the users which rather looked for artifacts with at least one sharp edge opposite a back. Usewear analysis allowed identification of different activities such as scrapping, cutting, or sawing hard or softer materials. The smallest artifacts may not have been the most used artifacts and that several tools may also have been hafted. The reason why so small artifacts were produced remains unknown. The Neanderthal world (supposedly related to these microlithic sites in Central Europe) was probably developed through multiple techno-morphological solutions.