Neanderthals Operated “Fat Factories” 125,000 Years Ago

Neanderthals systematically processed bones from at least 172 large mammals at a lakeside location in Germany 125,000 years ago, operating what researchers describe as a prehistoric “fat factory.”

The discovery at Neumark-Nord 2 fundamentally changes our understanding of Neanderthal food strategies, revealing sophisticated resource management that predates similar behaviors in other human groups by tens of thousands of years.

The evidence shows Neanderthals didn’t just crack open bones for marrow—they crushed massive quantities into tens of thousands of fragments to render calorie-rich bone grease through heating in water. This labor-intensive process required careful planning, specialized tools, and detailed knowledge of nutrition that challenges long-held assumptions about Neanderthal capabilities.

Organized Industrial-Scale Processing

“This was intensive, organised, and strategic,” explains Dr. Lutz Kindler, the study’s first author. “Neanderthals were clearly managing resources with precision—planning hunts, transporting carcasses, and rendering fat in a task-specific area.”

The site preserved exceptional evidence of this prehistoric industry. Researchers found over 118,000 bone fragments alongside 16,500 flint tools, hammerstones, and abundant signs of fire use. Most remarkably, two-thirds of the bone material measured smaller than 3 centimeters—the tiny fragments essential for efficient grease extraction.

Fat represents a crucial survival resource, especially for hunter-gatherers dependent on animal foods. When humans consume too much protein without adequate fat or carbohydrates, they risk “rabbit starvation”—a potentially lethal condition. Bone grease provided a calorie-dense solution during periods when other fat sources became scarce.

Evidence of Strategic Resource Management

The scale of operations at Neumark-Nord is staggering. Analysis revealed systematic processing of bones from horses, deer, aurochs, and other large mammals. Key findings include:

• Selective transport: Only fat-rich bones like skulls, long bones, and mandibles were brought to the processing site
• Specialized tools: Large anvils and 58 hammerstones specifically designed for bone fragmentation
• Fire infrastructure: Evidence of heating bones, stones, and abundant charcoal from controlled fires
• Seasonal planning: Animals were hunted year-round, suggesting systematic resource accumulation

The location itself was strategically chosen. Positioned at a lake edge, the site provided ready access to water for boiling, fuel for fires, and raw materials for tools from local glacial deposits.

Caching and Storage Systems

Perhaps most intriguingly, the researchers propose that Neanderthals may have operated sophisticated caching systems. The concentration of 172 large mammals in such a small area suggests bones were stored across the landscape and later transported to the processing site during intensive rendering periods.

“Indeed, bone grease production requires a certain volume of bones to make this labour-intensive processing worthwhile and hence the more bones assembled, the more profitable it becomes,” notes co-author Prof. Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser.

Caching is essential for northern latitude hunter-gatherers, who cannot survive without stored foods. The Neumark-Nord lakes could have facilitated “pond storage”—a method where carcasses are submerged in cold water for preservation.

Landscape-Scale Impact

The broader implications are striking. Prof. Wil Roebroeks observes: “What makes Neumark-Nord so exceptional is the preservation of an entire landscape, not just a single site. We see Neanderthals hunting and minimally butchering deer in one area, processing elephants intensively in another, and—as this study shows—rendering fat from hundreds of mammal skeletons in a centralized location.”

This evidence suggests Neanderthal hunting may have significantly impacted herbivore populations during the Last Interglacial period. Beyond the 172 animals at this single processing site, hundreds more were butchered around nearby lakes, including 76 rhinos and 40 straight-tusked elephants at other locations.

The discovery places bone grease rendering back to 125,000 years ago—previously documented only from 28,000 years ago in Upper Paleolithic sites. It demonstrates that complex resource management, seasonal planning, and industrial-scale food processing were part of Neanderthal culture far earlier than previously recognized, revealing cognitive sophistication that rivals that of later human groups.