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MON, 12 OCT · 83 ITEMS
"Neanderthals may have used prehistoric glue as an ancient antibiotic" — Science Daily (all) · Science & Medicine
The story is about an old archaeological material, , which Neanderthals are known to have made by heating birch bark and used as a glue to attach stone points to handles. New lab work suggests the tar also has antibacterial properties, so Neanderthals may have applied it to wounds as a , even if they did not consciously understand it as medicine. The underlying study apparently recreated likely Neanderthal production methods and tested the resulting tar against microbes.
The claim rests on a peer-reviewed study of experimentally produced birch bark tar (open-access paper PMC12998862), reported closely by Science Daily and specialist outlets such as C&EN and Science News. The lab finding that the tar has antibacterial activity is solid; the leap to Neanderthals actually using it as an antibiotic is a reasonable but unproven inference from material properties, not direct behavioral evidence.
Published in the October 11, 2026 wave, with no recirculation year given; the underlying study had already been covered in March–April 2026, so this is a fresh write-up of an earlier-2026 finding rather than a brand-new discovery.