Tom Björklund
Lola, the girl reconstructed from DNA stored in 5,700-year-old birch tar gum
A new study confirms the antibiotic properties of birch bark extract — which our Neanderthal ancestors may have used for its antibacterial properties.
Neanderthals probably used birch tar for various purposes, including wound care.
The conclusion is from a published on Wednesday in PLOS One by a team of researchers led by Tjaark Siemssenfrom the University of Cologne, Germany, and the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Birch tar is often found in archaeological sites associated with Neanderthals, and in some cases it is known to have been used as adhesive in tool assembly. It was also what allowed , a girl who lived 5,700 years ago in southern Denmark.
Recently, some researchers have hypothesized that Neanderthals gave this substance multiple uses.
For example, indigenous communities in northern Europe and Canada use birch tar in wound treatmentand there is increasing evidence that Neanderthals also resorted to various medicinal practices.
To investigate the therapeutic potential of birch tar, Siemssen and his colleagues extracted tar from the bark of modern birch trees, specifically targeting species identified in Neanderthal sites.
Tjaark Siemssen
Birch bark has been used to produce tar for more than 150,000 years. The central photo shows birch bark tar condensing on a rock bordering a fireplace. When scraped from rocks, the viscous tar can be used as an adhesive and antibiotic.
They resorted to various extraction methods, including tar distillation in a clay cavity and its condensation on a stone surface, both compatible with techniques available to Neanderthals.
When exposed to different strains of bacteria, all tar samples revealed efficacy in inhibiting the growth of bacteria of the genre Staphylococcusknown for causing wound infections.
These experiences not only support the effectiveness of medicinal practices indigenous people, but also reinforce the possibility that Neanderthals used birch tar to treat wounds.
The authors point out that there are other possible uses for birch tar, like insect repellentas well as other plants that Neanderthals had access to.
“We discovered that birch tar produced by Neanderthals and early humans had antibacterial properties,” say the study authors, in a statement published in .
” This has important implications for understanding how Neanderthals could have alleviated the burden of the disease during the last Ice Ages, and adds to the growing body of evidence on health care in these first human communities”, they add.
This study of ‘paleopharmacology‘ may contribute to the rediscovery of antibiotic remedies at a time when we face an increasingly pressing antimicrobial resistance crisis.”
“The messy and laborious nature of birch tar production deserves special mention. Each step of the process is, in itself, a sensorial experience, and getting tar off your hands after spending hours near a fire has always been a challenge,” the researchers conclude.
