Other cultures throughout history have used animal bone, horns, shells, steel and even the thorns of hawthorn bushes.

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They include 13 shards of 13th to 14th Century pottery, 70 pieces of animal bone, 22 pieces of roof tile and 68 pieces of leather, mainly shoe soles.

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It caused the French Government to ban meat and bone meal in animal feed, take T-bone steaks off menus and institute more stringent health tests for cattle.

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The six successful measurements did not involve Neanderthal bone but rather animal remains found in sediment layers associated with Neanderthals.

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But how does an animal without a mouth penetrate bone?

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France, which has banned the sale of T-bone steaks and all animal feed made from ground-up cattle, so called meat and bonemeal, had called for a complete ban on the produce in an effort to avoid isolation within the union.

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And there are no bone awls or needles that would suggest that Neanderthals were skilled leather workers, despite the abundance of animal skins that their hunting would have provided.

ECONOMIST: Palaeoeconomics