Archaeologists have discovered the oldest piece of string ever found. The archaeologists are very happy about their find. The first reason they are happy is that the string they found is around 50,000 years old. The second reason is that the string shows that Neanderthals were more intelligent than we previously thought they were. Neanderthals were an early species of humans that became extinct about 35,000 years ago. The string shows that Neanderthals had a good understanding of plants and textiles. The archaeologists say Neanderthals may have used the string to make clothes, bags, rope, mats and other things. This means they were probably as intelligent as modern humans.
The piece of string that the archaeologists found was tiny but it reveals a lot about how people lived 50,000 years ago. Dr Marie-Helene Moncel, director of research at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, said: "We were able to uncover details about the fibres and we observed that they're different, twisted fibres. It is not possible to find these kinds of fibres in nature." She added: "In my opinion, different things can be related to this discovery. Obviously, the ability of Neanderthals to make cord, but also their huge knowledge about trees. They knew about vegetation, plants and trees, and had the intelligence to use different parts of the environment."
