Neanderthals had the brains to build weapons of long-distance destruction, research has shown.
A team of javelin athletes helped scientists prove that the extinct cousins of modern humans were far more efficient hunters than previously thought.
Experts had assumed that Neanderthals lacked the technology and skill to kill from a significant distance with their crude wooden spears.
The new study paints a very different picture of their abilities.
Using accurate replicas of Neanderthal spears dating back 300,000 years, the javelin throwers managed to hit a target up to 20 metres (65.6ft) away.
This was double the distance scientists had believed the “Schoningen” spears could be thrown.
In addition, the spears slammed into the target with sufficient force to kill prey.
Lead researcher Dr Annemieke Milks, from University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, said: “This study is important because it adds to a growing body of evidence that Neanderthals were technologically savvy and had the ability to hunt big game through a variety of hunting strategies, not just risky close encounters.
“It contributes to revised views of Neanderthals as our clever and capable cousins.”
Neanderthals vanished from Europe around 40,000 years ago after co-existing with the ancestors of modern humans for several millennia.
It used to be thought that they were simply too stupid to compete with modern humans.
However recent finds have shown that Neanderthals were sophisticated tool and weapon makers.
The Schoningen spears, the oldest weapons in the archaeological record, are a set of 10 wooden throwing spears discovered in Germany in the 1990s.
For the study, two replicas were crafted from Norwegian spruce trees, one weighing 760 grams (1.67lb) and the other 800 grams (1.76lb).
Their weight had previously led scientists to believe they could not be thrown with much speed.
But the six javelin athletes recruited for the experiment were able to hurl the spears accurately over long distances with deadly force.
Co-author Dr Matt Pope, also from University College London, said: “The emergence of weaponry, technology designed to kill, is a critical but poorly established threshold in human evolution.
“We have forever relied on tools and have extended our capabilities through technical innovation.
“Understanding when we first developed the capabilities to kill at distance is therefore a dark, but important moment in our story.”
The research is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
