50,000 year old needle found in Denisova cave

Angela

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http://www.archaeology.org/news/4784-160823-denisova-cave-needle

"A needle measuring two and three-quarters of an inch long has been unearthed in Denisova Cave, in a layer where Denisovan remains have been found. According to a report in The Siberian Times, the 50,000-year-old needle, complete with an eye for thread, was crafted from a large bird bone. “As of today it is the most ancient needle in the world,” said Mikhail Shunkov of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in Novosibirsk. Additional, smaller needles have been found in younger layers of the cave. A Denisovan finger bone was first discovered in the cave, which is located in the Altai Mountains, in 2008. The cave is thought to have been occupied by Denisovans, Neanderthals, and modern humans at one time or another over a period of more than 250,000 years. "

Doesn't this seem to contradict the recent paper that found that one of the reasons that Neanderthal died out was that they couldn't seem to figure out how to make clothes?
http://www.eupedia.com/forum/thread...-Modern-Humans-survive?highlight=Neanderthals

Were Denisova "smarter" than Neanderthal? Was the needle used for something else?

Or have the layers been messed up and this is from humans?
 
Wow! It's really beautiful.

I don't understand it either....

Here is the needle, by the way....

inside_needle_close.jpg
 
the hole for the threading is perfectly round, very good finishing so the thread won't stick to a sharp angle

I wonder what threads they would have used
 
I wonder what did they use to bore through the bone? I also wonder if they did carbon testing to estimate the age of the bone itself? Cool needle nevertheless.
 

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