It is posited, based on recent scholarly inquiry, that ancestral human lineages may have developed and employed a viscous compound for both adhesive purposes and the therapeutic management of injuries, potentially predating contemporary medical practices by a span of up to 200,000 years.
Scholars have long been aware that Neanderthals utilized birch tar, a resinous material extracted from birch bark, as an adhesive for affixing spearheads to shafts, a process termed hafting.
This substance, discovered throughout Europe, served a variety of functions, including acting as an early form of waterproofing and, in a more playful interpretation, as a primitive chewing gum substitute.
“In conjunction with these discoveries, there exists mounting substantiation of medicinal behaviors and the utilization of botanical elements amongst Neanderthals, which prompted our investigation into the application of birch tar within this specific context,” elucidates Tjaark Siemssen, an archaeologist affiliated with the University of Cologne and Oxford University, who is the principal author of the research.
Consequently, in the investigation just concluded, researchers from the University of Cologne, the University of Oxford, and the University of Liège undertook the task of replicating this ancient birch tar, employing the raw materials and methodologies that Neanderthals might have hypothetically utilized.
Subsequently, scientists at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, Canada, conducted biological assessments to ascertain the tar’s therapeutic efficacy.
“This is precisely what our research has affirmed. The compound that Neanderthals synthesized 200,000 years ago, we can now confidently state, also exhibits antibacterial characteristics,” asserts Matthias Bierenstiel, a chemistry professor at Cape Breton University and a co-author of the study.
To meticulously reconstruct this profoundly ancient adhesive and medicinal substance, the researchers gathered bark from two species of (deceased) birch trees that are well-documented as prevalent during the Late Pleistocene epoch, a period spanning roughly from 129,000 to 11,700 years ago.
Following this, they employed three distinct methodologies for tar extraction to transform the bark into a viscous, pliable mixture.
The inaugural technique involved thermally processing birch bark within a tin container. This approach draws inspiration from the Mi’kmaq nation, the Indigenous inhabitants of Nova Scotia, who for generations have incorporated birch tar as a fundamental component of their traditional pharmacopoeia.
The subsequent two techniques were designed to emulate hypothesized Neanderthal practices. In one variation, the researchers subjected birch bark to combustion within a sealed subterranean pit, thereby achieving a process of dry distillation in the absence of atmospheric oxygen.
In the second chronologically relevant method, the researchers ignited birch bark in close proximity to a solid surface, such as a stone, and subsequently collected the tar that condensed onto the stone’s surface.
The birch tar samples obtained through these varied procedures exhibited demonstrable, albeit differing, degrees of positive antimicrobial efficacy against *Staphylococcus aureus*, a bacterium frequently implicated in wound infections.
However, and perhaps not unexpectedly, the efficacy of the birch tar fell short of that of the widely recognized antibiotic Gentamicin. Furthermore, the tar proved ineffective against the notorious *Escherichia coli* bacterium, which is commonly found inhabiting the lower intestinal tract.
These findings strongly indicate that ancient populations likely utilized birch tar specifically for the treatment of wounds or cutaneous ailments susceptible to infection.
The question arises as to how our ancient predecessors uncovered these therapeutic applications. The explanation is considered straightforward, as scientific consensus suggests that birch tar tends to adhere to surfaces and individuals involved in any manipulation of it. Moreover, a limited quantity of tar can be quite effective, with just 0.2 grams capable of covering an area of 100 cm2 of skin.
Crucially, this ancestral knowledge holds the potential to aid in combating antibiotic-resistant and hospital-acquired infections, given its demonstrated effectiveness against *S. aureus*. This pathogen is a cause for significant concern, as it possesses the capacity to develop resistance to every class of antibiotic currently in use and is responsible for approximately 500,000 hospitalizations annually in the United States.
“Our discoveries suggest that a thorough examination of targeted antibiotics derived from ethnographic records – or, as exemplified here, from prehistoric contexts – may prove exceptionally beneficial,” concludes Siemssen.
In a manner analogous to other historical phenomena, the landscape of healthcare may exhibit cyclical patterns. Therefore, when contemporary interventions lose their potency, drawing inspiration from exceptionally ancient remedies can be a worthwhile endeavor.
