Tattered, leathern and characteristic of bygone era (11)
I believe the answer is:
neanderthal
'characteristic of bygone era' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'tattered leathern and' is the wordplay.
'tattered' indicates an anagram (a tattered or broken form of the letters).
'leathern'+'and'='leathernand'
'leathernand' with letters rearranged gives 'NEANDERTHAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for neanderthal that I've seen before include "Type of primitive man" , "German valley" , "Human widely found in ice age Europe" , "Sort of very old man" , "Hominid discovered in Europe" .)