Approximately 125,000 years ago, giant elephants with a weight equivalent to 8 cars each roamed in northern Europe. These elephants, scientifically named Palaeoloxodon antiquus, were the largest land mammals of the Pleistocene era and reached a height of over 13 feet (4 meters). Despite their formidable size, the extinct straight-tusked elephants were hunted and killed for their meat by Neanderthals, as revealed by a recent study of 70 remains found at Neumark-Nord in central Germany, near Halle.
The findings challenge beliefs about the extinct hominins, who lived for over 300,000 years before vanishing around 40,000 years ago. The study indicates that Neanderthals were highly capable hunters, knowledgeable in meat preservation, and lived in more established communities that were larger than previously thought.
The repetitive cut marks found on the well-preserved bones, in a consistent pattern on different elephants and on both left and right parts of an individual animal, indicate that the massive elephants were processed for their meat, fat, and brains using a standardized procedure over approximately 2,000 years. With a single adult male weighing 13 metric tons, twice as much as an African elephant, the butchering process likely required many individuals and took several days to complete.
Neanderthals and Ancient Elephants
In northern Europe, stone tools were discovered alongside the remains of straight-tusked elephants with cut marks. However, it was unclear whether early humans actively hunted the elephants or scavenged meat from naturally deceased ones. A large number of elephant bones with a consistent pattern of cut marks has now settled this debate, according to the authors of a study published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday.
The Neanderthals probably hunted male elephants, which were larger and solitary, using thrusting and throwing spears discovered at another location in Germany, according to Wil Roebroeks, a professor of Paleolithic archaeology at Leiden University in Germany and co-author of the study. The study found that the site had a higher proportion of older male elephants than expected from natural deaths.
According to the study's co-author, immobilizing the elephants or trapping them on muddy shores by utilizing their weight was used for hunting them. If a few individuals could immobilize one, it was simply a matter of finishing it off. What was most surprising about the discovery was not just the Neanderthal's ability to hunt such massive creatures but their knowledge of how to use the meat, as stated by Britt M. Starkovich, a researcher at the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen in Germany, in a commentary accompanying the study.
Study author Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser, who is 160 centimeters (5 feet 2 inches) tall, stands next to a life-sized reconstruction of an adult male straight-tusked elephant in the Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Halle, Germany.
Butchering Elephant Meat
Britt M. Starkovich, who was not involved in the study, wrote in the accompanying commentary that the yield from hunting a straight-tusked elephant was substantial, providing over 2,500 daily portions of 4,000 calories each. This means that a group of 25 foragers could have a straight-tusked elephant meat supply for three months, 100 foragers for one month, and 350 people for a week. Starkovich emphasized that Neanderthals deeply understood their hunting practices, including which types of elephants to hunt, where to find them, and how to carry out the hunt. They were also aware of the significant effort required for butchering and the large return of meat that came with it.
According to Wil Roebroeks, the Neanderthals probably knew how to keep the meat fresh through smoking or fire. Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser, another study's co-author and a professor of prehistoric and protohistoric archaeology at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, stated that such a large amount of meat might have been an occasion for temporary gatherings of people from a wider social network, as reported by CNN.
The study co-author and professor of prehistoric and protohistoric archaeology at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser, explained that the Neanderthals living in the area probably knew how to store and preserve meat, potentially through the use of fire and smoke. She also stated that the meat bonanza from hunting a straight-tusked elephant could have been an opportunity for temporary gatherings of people from a larger social network.
Neanderthals, The Skilled Hunters
She mentioned that a study from October 2022, based on ancient DNA from a small group of Neanderthals in Siberia, showed that women married outside their community and that the new research opens up the possibility for similar discoveries about Neanderthal behavior. The recent study challenges the long-held belief that Neanderthals were highly mobile and lived in small groups of 20 or fewer.
The finding suggests that at this particular location, when food was abundant, and the climate was favorable, Neanderthals may have lived in larger groups and were more sedentary. The climate was similar to today's conditions before the ice sheets advanced at the start of the last ice age. The study found that killing a tusked elephant was not common and happened approximately once every five to six years based on the number of remains found.
However, the researchers noted that more remains might have been destroyed as the site is part of an open-cast mine. Neanderthals were skilled hunters who thrived in different environments and climates, understood how to process and preserve food, and made sophisticated tools, yarn, and art. They also cared for the sick, buried their dead, and sometimes engaged in symbolic representation. The study adds to the list of human-like traits that Neanderthals possessed and emphasizes their capability to store food and operate in larger groups than previously imagined.
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