Several hundred of them are battles of Noailles, so called for being discovered for the first time in this cave in southwestern France. The Wars of Noailles found in level IV of the cave have a maximum of 3 cm long and 2 cm wide, were very standardized and, thanks to the sharp end, were used for specialized tasks. However, before researching these small instruments in depth, the researchers at the UPV/EHU did not know exactly what they used them for.

The research group formed by Aitor Calvo, Unai Perales, Maite García-Rojas, Christian Normand and Alvaro Arrizabalaga has carried out the technological, typometric, morphotypological and, in particular, functional analysis of this collection of 2011, which was conceived by researchers as an experimental program of functional analysis. Results Journal of Archaeological Science: They gave it in early summer in Reports magazine.

Researchers have come to the conclusion that the Noailles wars were used for the drilling of soft materials such as animal fur suits, that is, for sewing. And this hypothesis takes place in objects found in other deposits of the same time in Europe. Hundreds of decorative specimens, of Iberian origin, wrapped in hats, coats or chalk, have been found in the graves of the Sunghir (Russia) and Candide and Ostuni (Italy) fields.

The first needles – according to morphological criteria at least – were created and used at the end of the Gravetti period, in the Solutrense period (about 15,000-21,000 years ago). They were bone, and then about 7,500 years ago, they started making metal pieces. But, according to the UPV/EHU researcher, even before the needles, there were tools for sewing.