Spanish historians discover humans' mammoth-hunting habits
Tuesday, April 20, 2021 @ 8:42 PM
HUMANS in southern Europe used to hunt mammoths 30,000 years ago, Spanish archaeologists have confirmed.
The 20-strong team, from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) along with historians from three other countries, have just finished an excavation in a cave in Isturitz, southern France, where a mammoth's shoulder bone was found in 1988.
It has since become a source of intrigue for archaeologists and numerous digs have been carried out there to find out more about the world and early humans millennia ago.
This time, says the UPV group, 'dozens' of bone fragments have been found which are known to have come from mammoths, and signs of various knocks and other injuries are said to be man-made.
And they have concluded the mammoths in question did not just 'wander into' the cave, but had been transported there from the bottom of the valley.
It appears the humans who did so had opened up the bones to get to the marrow, which would have been highly nutritious, providing essential elements such as protein and iron for strength and fat for keeping warm in winter.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com