Scientists have found what could be the bones of some of the last surviving Neanderthals in Western Europe.

And it appears our ancient cousins were far smarter than researchers believed.

A recent study has revealed a collection of beads made from animal teeth, shells and fragments of ivory unearthed alongside the bones in a cave in central France.

Fragments of bone (pictured) found in the cave in the same layers of earth as the beads have been difficult to identify but new research has been able to show they belonged to a young Neanderthals who appears to have still been breast-feeding when they perished

WORLD'S OLDEST BLING Neanderthals may have created and worn the world's first jewellery 130,000 years ago. Eight talons belonging to a white-tailed eagle were found at Krapina in Croatia. Researchers say multiple cut marks and signs that they were polished suggest they were used to create a necklace or bracelet. They were found at site once inhabited by Neanderthals. Dr David Frayer, an anthropologist at the University Kansas who led the study of the talons, said they appear to have been made into symbolic jewellery 80,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe. Advertisement

'[The specimens] are among some of the latest Neanderthals in western Eurasia, and possibly candidates to be involved in gene flow from Neanderthals into anatomically modern humans (or vice versa),' the team wrote.

However, Neanderthal remains discovered in Gibraltar have been dated to 29,000 and 34,000-years-old, making it the last known refuge of the now extinct human relative, although there is some controversy over those dates.

The latest study focused on fragments of bone found alongside the beads, which are thought to have been worn as part of a necklace, at the Grotte du Renne in Arcy-sur-Cure in central France.

First unearthed in excavations between 1949 and 1963, anthropologists have argued about who created the necklace beads ever since.

The beads, which were found alongside stone tools and bone fragments, have been dated to around 42,000-years-old and credited to a mysterious group called the Châtelperronian Culture.

Some experts believe they were made by modern humans who were sweeping across Europe at around this time and credited the beads of Cro-Magnon man.

However, the bones found in the cave were too small to be easily identified.

Beads shaped from animal teeth, shells and fragments of ivory (pictured) seem to have been made by Neanderthals. They were found alongside bones that have now been identified as belonging to this extinct species of early humans

The beads were found during excavations at Grotte du Renne (pictured) alongside fragments of bone that have now been identified as belonging to a Neanderthal

Researchers have now turned to modern protein analsysis techniques to answer the puzzle.

They found that the chemical composition of collagen in the bone fragments appeared to match those of Neanderthals rather than modern humans.

Jean-Jacques hublin, director of the department of human evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, said: 'The process of replacement of archaic local populations by modern humans in Eurasia is still poorly understood as the makers of many palaeolithic tool-kits of this time period remain unknown.

'This type of research allows us to extract unrecognisable human fragments out of large archaeological assemblages and to revisit the mode and the tempo of this major event in human evolution with fresh material.'

The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also performed other analysis to help them identify the bones.

They used mitochondrial DNA – which is a type of genetic material passed down through the maternal line only – and found the 28 previously unidentified bone fragments found in the cave belonged to a single individual with Neanderthal ancestry on their mother's side.

NEANDERTHALS WERE SMART, SOPHISTICATED AND ARTISTIC Neanderthals first emerged around 280,000 years ago, spreading to inhabit much of Europe and parts of Asia, but they eventually died out 40,000 years ago. The reason for their demise was often put down to being a more primative species of human that was unable to compete against the more sophisticated Homo sapiens. The view of Neanderthals (reconstruction pictured) has changed in recent years due to new research They were depicted as thuggish cavemen that scraped an existence on the cold lands of ice age Europe. However, a series of discoveries are now putting Neanderthals into a new light. Stone tools discovered at sites they inhabited suggest they were skilled tool makers with adept hand eye coordination. A 60,000-year-old multi-purpose bone tool unearthed in France also suggests Neanderthals understood how to use bones to make useful devices A recent discovery by researchers at the Muséum National d'Histories Naturelle in Paris suggests that Neanderthals may have built homes using the materials they found around them. They discovered a 26 feet wide building created 44,000 years ago from mammoth bones. Many of the bones had also been decorated carvings and ochre pigments. Cross-hatched engravings found inside Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar are also thought to be the first known examples of Neanderthal rock art. DNA analysis has also shown that Neanderthals carried the same genes that are thought to have enabled modern humans to speak. Eight talons found at a 130,000 year old Neanderthal site in Krapina in Croatia are also thought to be the world's first jewellery, and may have been worn as a necklace. Now the latest evidence mounting in favour of a more sophisticated view of the ancient humans is the structures found 1100 feet (330 metres) deep into a cave in France. Advertisement

While previous genetic studies have found that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred, together with the protein analysis, it suggests the individual was a Neanderthal.

Collagen in the bones of modern humans contain high amounts of an amino acid called aspartic acid.

More ancient human species, however are rich in a different amino acid called asparagine.

DNA studies in Neanderthals has also shown their genes are likely to produce asparagine rich types of caollagen.

The beads have either had small holes drilled at one end or grooves cut where they would have been bound (pictured). Anthropologists have in the past been split over whether they were created by Homo sapiens or Neanderthals

The bones and beads were unearthed in a cave at Arcy-sur-Cure in France (shown on map)

The researchers also found the collagen was a form high in nitrogen isotopes, which is usually only found in children who are breast feeding.

This, the scientists argue, suggests the fragments of bone in the cave likely belonged to a young child who was still being breast fed.

Frido Welker, an anthropologist at the Max Planck Insittute for Evolutionary anthropology and the University of York, who was the lead author of the study, said: 'To differentiate between modern humans, Neandertals and Denisovans on the basis of ancient protein research provides really exciting opportunities for future research into the origins of our and their evolutionary history.

'These ancient hominin proteins in Pleistocene bones hold valuable phylogenetic and physiological information.'

According to some experts, Neanderthals (reconstruction pictured) lacked the cognitive ability to have sophisticated culture and jewellery, but new research suggests otherwise

Eagle talons found at a site inhabited by Neanderthals in Croatia are the earliest example of jewellery yet discovered and date to around 130,000 years ago

The researchers were also able to use radiocarbon dating on the bone fragments, showing they date to around 42,000 years ago – the same as the beads.

Together they say this proves the Châtelperronian jewellery and tools were created by Neanderthals.

This suggests these now extinct prehistoric early humans were more than capable of the sort of cognitive abilities some argue is the sole realm of our own species.

Last year archaeologists revealed they had discovered the world's oldest jewellery at a site in Croatia, which is thought to date to 130,000 years ago.

Eight eagle talons appear to have been polished and strung on a necklace more than 80,000 years before modern humans are thought to have arrived in Europe.

The talons, which appear to have been used as symbolic jewellery, were found at a site where Neanderthal remains have also been found.