We describe eight, mostly complete white-tailed eagle (Haliaëtus [Haliaeetus] albicilla) talons from the Krapina Neandertal site in present-day Croatia, dating to approximately 130 kyrs ago. Four talons bear multiple, edge-smoothed cut marks; eight show polishing facets and/or abrasion. Three of the largest talons have small notches at roughly the same place along the plantar surface, interrupting the proximal margin of the talon blade. These features suggest they were part of a jewelry assemblage, --- the manipulations a consequence of mounting the talons in a necklace or bracelet. An associated phalanx articulates with one of the talons and has numerous cut marks, some of which are smoothed. These white-tailed eagle bones, discovered more than 100 years ago, all derive from a single level at Krapina and represent more talons than found in the entire European Mousterian period. Presence of eight talons indicates that the Krapina Neandertals acquired and curated eagle talons for some kind of symbolic purpose. Some have argued that Neandertals lacked symbolic ability or copied this behavior from modern humans. These remains clearly show that the Krapina Neandertals made jewelry well before the appearance of modern humans in Europe, extending ornament production and symbolic activity early into the European Mousterian.

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a b s t r a c tSymbolic items are seldom associated with Neandertals and, when they are, many paleoanthropologists consider them to be Neandertal imitations from modern Homo sapiens. At the Croatian site of Krapina dated to MIS 5e or about 130,000 years ago, among many items, a split limestone rock was excavated by Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger between 1899-1905. This brownish rock reveals many dark dendritic forms in cross-and longitudinal section. Of more than 1000 lithic items at Krapina, none resemble this specimen and we propose it was collected and not further processed by the Neandertals because of its aesthetic attributes. Along with other examples from sites in western and central Europe and the recent discovery of eight modified white-tailed eagle talons from Krapina, this unique item suggests that Neandertals were capable, on their own, of incorporating symbolic objects into their culture.

This paper presents palaeoecological and taphonomic analyses of bird remains from Late Pleistocene sediments from two caves in southern Istria, Šandalja II and Ljubićeva pećina. Most of the identified species are found today in Istria and along the Adriatic coast, although the presence of ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) and willow grouse (L. lagopus) indicates colder conditions than those characteristic of the region today. Taxa from both sites are characteristic of open, forest-steppe, rocky, forest, and mixed biotopes. These sites differ somewhat in avifaunal compositionaquatic-adapted taxa are only found at Šandalja II, probably reflecting differences in human activities and in their geographic settings. Likewise, only Šandalja's assemblages show an increase in the representation of forest-adapted taxa over time. These data from the bird remains complement reconstructions based on mammalian assemblages from these sites. Different taphonomic agents accumulated the bird bones, and bone surface modifications show that birds of prey, small carnivores, and Late Upper Palaeolithic people helped accumulate these remains. The important Late Pleistocene avifaunal assemblages from southern Istria indicate that a mosaic of habitats was present during the Late Pleistocene and a deep time depth to the rich biodiversity of the region today. Furthermore they suggest that the exposed Adriatic Plain supported a diverse and rich biome.

the Krapina white-tailed eagle talons represent a kind of jewelry worn by Krapina neandertals some 130,000 years ago. New inspection of one Krapina talon (386.1) revealed a fiber, sealed by a thin silicate coating, adhering to the surface within a wide cut mark, as well as concentrated traces of occasional spots of red and yellow pigment and some black stains. We analyzed the fiber and small portions of pigmented areas by non-invasive, infrared synchrotron beam. Different areas were targeted, revealing the protein nature of the fiber, identified as of animal origin. Targeted areas revealed intra-and interstrand aggregation indicating the fiber to be collagen losing its original triple α-helix conformation, further confirming the diagenetic decay of the original collagen structure and the antiquity of the fiber. It is possible that the fiber is a remnant of the leather or sinew string binding the talons together. Spectroscopic analysis of the pigments in two isolated areas confirmed two types of ochre and that the dark spots are charcoal remnants. Applying novel non-invasive technologies provides new possibilities to further test the hypothesis of using prehistoric objects for symbolic purposes. Eight white-tailed eagle (Haliaëtus albicilla) talons and one foot phalanx were found at the Krapina Neandertal site, excavated between 1899-1905 1-3. The deposits are dated to 130,000 BP by ESR and uranium series 4. Only Neandertals were using the site, evidenced by Mousterian stone tools found in all the Krapina layers, as well as Neandertal remains found in all except the lowest layer. Yet, even here Mousterian stone tools were found in addition to faunal remains with anthropogenic cut marks 5-7. Deriving from the uppermost level, the talons are thought to be one of the earliest examples of Neandertal ornaments 8. The fact that eight talons were found in the same context together with an additional phalanx, and the fact that all of them contain evidence of anthropogenic modifications such as cut marks, nicks from the medial and lateral aspects of the plantar surface, and several heavily polished areas suggest that these were an assemblage worn as jewelry. Based on duplication of right talon 2 the talons belong to at least three different birds, indicating that acquiring them was intentional and not a fortuitous capture of a single eagle 8. This raptor species is a top diurnal avian predator with two-meter wingspan, not commonly encountered in the environment 9 and not an easy prey to acquire 10,11. So far, raptor talons and phalanges have been found at various European Neandertal sites, together with the remains of Mousterian and Châtelperronian techno-cultures 12-17. All these sites provide evidence of never more than a single talon in the same archaeological level. Only Krapina has multiple talons found in one level with multiple signs of manipulation strongly suggesting they were combined into a personal ornament. They are indeed unique in the European fossil record and, even in the Upper Paleolithic or Mesolithic pe...