Archaeologists Are Reconstructing the Invisible Technologies of the Stone Age, From Rope to Thread and Twine

When an abstract-looking ivory artifact emerged from the Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany in 2015, archaeologists didn’t know quite what to make of it. Previously, this same cave had yielded what may be the world’s oldest musical flutes, as well as one of humanity’s earliest pieces of figurative art, the iconic Venus of Hohle Fels. At first glance, the strange new discovery—a nearly eight-inch rod perforated with four small holes—seemed comparatively unspectacular.

But it has since revealed far more about the lives of Europe’s prehistoric hunter-gatherers than its unassuming appearance might have suggested. Fashioned from the tusk of a mammoth more than 35,000 years ago, this baton—a type of artifact called a lochstab—was initially interpreted as a symbolic object associated with prestige or power. But Nicholas Conard, whose team discovered the item, wasn’t so sure.

Noticing that each of the baton’s holes was lined with carefully carved spiral grooves, he began to suspect that the lochstab might have been a tool used by twisting some other material through the perforations. Sure enough, when he and his colleagues tried threading cattail fibers through these holes, they found that the grooves helped to orient the strands. Within ten minutes, the group had woven the fibers into 16 feet of thick, strong rope.

Yet while these experiments might have helped to solve one archaeological mystery, they also highlighted a much larger problem. The inhabitants of Hohle Fels must have manufactured significant quantities of rope, but none of it has survived. All that remains is the most durable component of this ancient production system—the ivory lochstab.

As a consequence, archaeologists rely heavily on stone tools and bone artifacts to reconstruct our prehistory, while objects made from less durable plant and animal products remain largely overlooked. Yet these soft technologies played a huge role in shaping the survival strategies and daily lives of our ancestors. The problem facing archaeologists, therefore, is how to study a technology that is, in a sense, invisible—a technology they can’t actually find.

The oldest surviving example of human-made fiber is a six-millimeter-long piece of string made by Neanderthals some 50,000 years ago. It’s an exceedingly rare example of preserved ancient fiber, and how it managed to withstand the ravages of time isn’t clear. Discovered by Hardy and his colleagues at the Abri du Maras rock shelter in France, this small length of three-ply cord indicates that fiber has deep roots in the human lineage.