Researchers report that our archaic cousins also preyed on the largest land animals of their time: In present-day Germany, 125,000 years ago, groups of Neanderthals apparently deliberately hunted the bulls of the Eurasian forest elephant, which could weigh up to 13 tons. This is substantiated by battle marks on the remains of the proboscidea from a site near Halle, as well as other indications. Harnessing this particularly demanding and plentiful food source also suggests that at least some Neanderthal groups were larger than previously thought, the researchers say.
It clearly towered over today's elephants and also the mammoth: With a shoulder height of up to four meters and a maximum weight of 13 tons, the Eurasian forest elephant was the largest land animal in the Pleistocene era. With their characteristically straight tusks, up to three meters long, they used to be out and about in the forests of Europe and western Asia. During the interglacial periods of the Pleistocene, their distribution area also extended to areas north of the Alps - as it did around 125,000 years ago.
Hunting the Giants?
As is known from numerous finds, Neanderthals also lived there at that time. So far, however, it has remained unclear whether our archaic cousins were hunting the gigantic proboscidea. Because previous references could also be explained by the fact that they only attacked the carcasses of animals that had died of natural causes on occasion. The basis of the study by the researchers led by Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz were previous and new test results from finds in a lignite mine near Neumark-Nord near Halle. The remains of at least 70 forest elephants were discovered there in the 1980s and 1990s. According to the dates, they come from animals that lived there around 125,000 years ago in the area of a former lake.
Previous investigations had already uncovered interesting peculiarities in the finds. It is therefore a collection of individuals with a strange imbalance: the researchers identified almost only adult male animals. This pattern has not been observed in either fossil or present-day elephant populations. Exciting findings on some bones then followed at the beginning of 2021: "The discovery of clear cut marks gave the impetus for an intensive investigation of the elephant remains," says Gaudzinski-Windheuser. For the current study, the research team meticulously analyzed the bone collection, which comprised 3,122 individual pieces. They looked for cut marks from stone tools and bite marks from predators.
Group hunt for bulls
As the team reports, they actually found the signatures of human activity in most individuals. Accordingly, the animals served as a food source for Neanderthals for at least 2000 years. The comparison with bite marks indicated that the Neanderthals must have been at work before predators. However, the researchers see the clearest indication that the elephants were killed by early humans in the demographic data: In their study, they explain why the above-average frequency of adult males among the dead animals clearly indicates hunting.
Accordingly, the bulls were probably a comparatively easy and yet particularly fat prey. In contrast to the females and young animals, the solitary males traveled without the protection of the herd. The scientists argue that this would probably make it easier for the hunters to approach them and overwhelm them with traps or massive spear use. The profit from a successful hunt was enormous, according to their calculations: A ten-ton elephant could have delivered 2,500 portions of 4,000 kilocalories each.
As the team explains, the results now also shed new light on the way Neanderthals lived. It seems clear that the hunt for the huge animals required close cooperation between the group members involved. This also applied to the processing of the prey: the animals had to be dissected, the remains of meat had to be detached from the long bones and the fatty foot pads removed. Processing may also have involved drying the material for long-term storage.
According to the researchers, it seems implausible that this could be accomplished by small groups. So far it has been assumed that Neanderthals came together in groups of no more than 25 individuals. However, it now seems likely that they also formed larger communities, at least temporarily, and perhaps also used conservation techniques to store food. Commenting on the study, Britt Starkovich from the University of Tübingen concludes: "It is becoming increasingly clear that Neanderthals possessed a whole arsenal of adaptive behaviors that enabled them to thrive in the diverse ecosystems of Eurasia for over 200,000 years ' said the scientist.
Source: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, specialist article: Science Advances, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.add8186