For early humans, hunting megafauna was part of survival. Archaeologists believe that Neanderthals may have hunted fierce cave lions and some early civilizations were likely keen wood workers that could make effective hunting tools. They also hunted enormous mammoths, but how early humans killed these roughly 13-feet-high, nine ton, tusked mammals 13,000 years ago is still a mystery. Previous theories included throwing spears with razor sharp rocks called Clovis points at the mammoths to pierce their thick hides, or surrounding the animals and jabbing them, or scavenging dead animals using Clovis points as tools. Now, a team of archeologists from the University of California, Berkeley believe that they may have hunted in a different way.
The Clovis people may have used a series of pikes tipped with these sharp points planted in the ground to impale a charging animal. The force of the running mammoth would have driven the spear deeper into the animal’s body than a spear thrown by a human, according to this new research. The new take-down theory is detailed in a study published August 21 in the journal PLOS ONE.
It makes sense. Clovis, the site where the style of fluted point is named for, is in New Mexico. There is also a lot of evidence for humans stampeding animals off cliffs. The use of long, non-thrown spears makes sense when there isn’t a cliff in a convenient location. Another tool in the kit.
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