Neanderthals may have unwound from all that hunting and gathering with a spot of knitting around the cave fire.
Scientists have discovered what they believe to be the first direct evidence of yarn making.
The 6mm-long cord fragment, found at an archaeological site in Abri du Maras in the south of France.
And they think it was made by Neanderthals in the Middle Palaeolithic period 30,000 to 300,000 years ago.
They would have needed basic numeracy skills to create bundles of fibres to make yarn and may have been more advanced than previously thought.
An international team, led by Bruce Hardy, a professor of anthropology at Kenyon College in Ohio, US, analysed the cord fragment which was found twisted in three small bundles wrapped around a 60mm long stone tool.
The scientists believe the cord may have been used as a handle for the tool or was part of a net or bag containing the implement.
Analysis revealed that these strands were made of cellulose, probably from the inside of conifer trees.
Dr Marie-Helene Moncel, from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, said: “We are sure that these twisted fibres are not due to a natural process.
“We can imagine that this twisted fibres could be the remains of a cord of something you could use it for making bags.”
Dr Moncel added that to know when and how to harvest the fibres would have required advanced knowledge of the plants in their environment.
Study lead author Prof Bruce Hardy added: “You start by twisting a set of fibres into a strand of yarn. Multiple yarns are twisted to form a cord, multiple cords to form a rope, et cetera.
“We cannot make a rope without the preceding steps. In that way, fibre technology is very similar to language.
“We can’t have a sentence without words, we can’t have words without sounds that convey meaning. Thus, the cognitive abilities for making string and rope are very similar to those for making language.
“This speaks to the cognitive abilities of Neanderthals. As recent ancient DNA evidence shows, modern humans and Neanderthals interbred regularly. They couldn’t have been so different from us
