Neanderthal Woodwork, Preserved as Hollow Molds in Spanish Stone

At Abric Romaní, a rock shelter in Capellades west of Barcelona, mineral-rich water coated Neanderthal wooden tools in a limestone-like crust. The wood itself rotted away, and the crust kept its negative: hollow molds that faithfully reflect the shape of the tools that made them. What those molds record is more than a hunting kit. The finds include spears, digging sticks, bark trays, parts of shelters, and a club unlike anything seen before — a working life in wood that the stone record alone would never have shown.