Early Modern Human Hunting and Meat Processing Techniques | Early European History And Religion

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EARLY MODERN HUMAN HUNTING TECHNIQUES

Many scientists believe that early modern humans were more likely hunters and gatherers than macho spear-welding hunters. Basing their conclusions on archaeological evidence and studies of modern hunters and gatherers, the scientists believe that early human women collected edible plants, seeds and roots and men more likely employed relatively safe net hunting than threw spears at mighty beasts. [Source: Discovery, April 1998]

Blombos Cave in South Africa about 640 kilometers 400 miles from Capetown, was inhabited by modern humans periodically between 60,000 and 120,000 years ago. It contains stone hearths, trash piles, animal bones, mussel shells, red ocher "crayons," and a giant buffalo with nine-foot horns and spear point lodged in its vertebrae, which shows that early modern humans was capable of killing large, dangerous animals.

Meshlike impressions on clay fragments from Pavlov Hills, Czech Republic may have been from nets used to catch small game such as hares, foxes and squirrels. A number of sites in the Czech Republic have large numbers of hare bones. Hares would be difficult to catch without nets.

Websites and Resources on Hominins and Human Origins: Smithsonian Human Origins Program humanorigins.si.edu ; Institute of Human Origins iho.asu.edu ; Becoming Human University of Arizona site becominghuman.org ; Hall of Human Origins American Museum of Natural History amnh.org/exhibitions ; The Bradshaw Foundation bradshawfoundation.com ; Britannica Human Evolution britannica.com ; Human Evolution handprint.com ; University of California Museum of Anthropology ucmp.berkeley.edu; John Hawks' Anthropology Weblog johnhawks.net/ ; New Scientist: Human Evolution newscientist.com/article-topic/human-evolution

Early Modern Human Weapons

Unlike Neanderthals who attacked their prey directly and relied on thrusting spears for hunting at close quarters, modern humans hunted at a distance with spear throwers that were effective from 30 to 50 feet away. These were tipped by a variety of carefully wrought stone and bone points. The throwing spears used by modern humans made hunting more efficient and less dangerous. At the 20,000-year-old Sungir site in Russia archaeologist unearthed 11 dartlike spears, three daggers and two long spear. One of the spears was 8-feet-long and had a point fashioned from a mammoth tusk.

mammoth ivory spear-thrower

Spears, first used 460,000 years ago, were the first weapons used by pre-human hominins. Much later modern humans devised spear-throwers called atlatls The atlatl is a two-piece weapon consisting of a lever arm fitted on the end of a light spear. The lever helps thrust the spear with greater velocity than a hand-thrown spear. Used in Europe, the Americas and Australia, it was a common weapon before bows and arrows were widely used and is believed to have been effective enough to bring down wooly mammoths, The weapon has made a come back in recent years. There atlatl competitions and clubs. In the United States, hunters have asked to be allowed to use the weapons in during a atlatl hunting season.

Atlatls allowed early hunters to fling projectiles at greater velocity and hunt game from farther away. They may have given modern humans an advantage over Neanderthals. A number of stone points discovered at the Gault site, in central Texas, were most likely hafted onto wooden shafts and hurled with atlatls at targets such as bison and mammoths, Tom Williams of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, told Archaeology magazine. The points have been dated to between 20,000 and 16,000 years ago, making them the oldest projectile points unearthed in the Americas. [Source: Daniel Weiss, Archaeology magazine, May-June 2020]

At some point modern humans also invented primitive bow and arrows which are deadly from distance of around 100 feet. The bow is regarded by some as the first machine since it had moving parts and converted musculature energy to mechanical energy. Twelve-thousand-year-old cave art in Altira Spain shows men with bows, perform outflanking movement. By 10,000 years ago modern humans were using maces (derived from club) and slings (derived from bolas, which wrapped around legs of animals). These tools and bows and arrows marked difference between old stone age (Paleolithic period) and new stone age (Neolithic period). [Source: History of Warfare by John Keegan, Vintage Books]

Cliff Kills and Extinction of Large Mammal Species

About 350 pairs of antlers, 5,000 reindeer molars, thousands of vertebrae and foot bones, and part of a mammoth skeleton were found in a huge fire pit under a 100-foot-cliff in southern France. These remains are offered as proof that modern humans hunted entire herds of animals by driving them off cliffs. It is also believed that modern humans hunters ambushed animals at narrow passes, attacked prey vulnerable during river crossings and ambushed prey at water holes during the dry season. [Source: John Pfieffer, Smithsonian magazine, October 1986]

The bones of 1,000 mammoths have been found in Czechoslovakia and the remains of 10,000 wild horses that were driven over a cliff at various times have been found near Soultré-Pouilly in Burgundy, Solutré, France. The bones under the cliffs at Soultré-Pouilly are three feet thick and cover 2.5 acres.

Predation by early men and the shrinking of Ice Age grasslands are both believed to have led to the sudden extinction of the wooly mammoth, cave bears, mastodons, saber tooth tigers, cave lions, wooly rhinoceros, steppe bison, giant elk, and the European wild ass. Other species such as the musk ox and saiga antelope managed to survive in only small pockets. The mass extinctions are believed to have been partly the result of these animals having never been hunted by humans and having little fear of them.

The end of the large-game hunting cultures marked the end of the early stone age (Paleolithic period) and the beginning of the middle stone age (Mesolithic period) when early man derived his protein from fish, shellfish and deer instead of large animals like mammoth and buffalo.

Mammoth Meat Consumption

Archaeology magazine reported: The people of the Upper Paleolithic settlement at Predmostí in the Czech Republic: ate a lot of mammoth, according to a new study, and gave their dogs reindeer and musk ox meat. The work, which examined isotopes in bone collagen for clues to the diet of the Gravettian people 30,000 years ago, shows that carnivores, such as bears and wolves, also ate mammoth meat. Dogs, however, did not, which is a surprise, considering how much mammoth meat the people had around. This suggests that the dogs were restrained, and likely used more for transportation than hunting. [Source: Archaeology magazine, March-April 2015]

In 2009, archaeologists announced that they had found evidence of a 31,000-year-old old “well-equipped kitchen” where a gigantic mammoth was among the last animals roasted. Jennifer Viegas wrote in Discovery News: “The site, called Pavlov VI in the Czech Republic near the Austrian and Slovak Republic borders, provides a homespun look at the rich culture of some of Europe’s first anatomically modern humans. [Source: Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News, June 3, 2009 *]

“While contemporaneous populations near this region seemed to prefer reindeer meat, the Gravettian residents of this living complex, described in the latest issue of the journal Antiquity, appeared to seek out more super-sized fare. “It seems that, in contrast to other Upper Paleolithic societies in Moravia, these people depended heavily on mammoths,” project leader Jiri Svoboda told Discovery News. *\

Modern Humans Killed a Cave Bear in Russia 35,000 Years Ago

In June 2021, paleontologists announced the discovery of a 35,000-year-old skull of a small cave bear in a Russian cave presumably because it killed by a modern human hunter. That bear appears to have settled into a cave to hibernate and never woke up, The skull had a distinct, oblong hole in it about an inch (2.5 centimeters) long. Although previous research has shown that humans targeted other types of cave bears, this is the first evidence that they hunted small cave bears (Ursus rossicus) during the last ice age. [Source: Aylin Woodward, Business Insider, June 24, 2021]

The researchers found the skull during a three-year excavation of Imanay Cave in a remote part of the southern Ural mountains in Russia. Human hunters most likely found the bear hibernating and stabbed it in the head. “However, it's possible that ice-age humans stabbed the bear after it had already died as part of a ritual. An analysis of the bear's teeth suggested it died in the winter — one reason why paleontologists think it was killed while hibernating.

Dmitry Gimranov, a paleontologist from Ural Federal University told Business Insider “The skull hole showed no signs of healing, which suggests the wound happened around the time of the bear's death. The hole's size suggests a strong impact with a hard object. Although it's possible the bear was bludgeoned by a falling rock while it slept, a hunter is a more likely explanation, "Most likely, the animal was killed by ancient people," Gimranov, who co-authored the study,

cave bear

According to Business Insider: “Gimranov and his colleagues suggest that ancient hunters might have used a spear to pierce the bear's skull. That would be doable if they were standing at close range — a plausible scenario if the animal was deep in slumber. Gimranov's team didn't find an arrowhead or spear lodged in the cave bear's head, but they did find a piece of flint sharpened to a point in the same layer of cave sediment. The sharpened point aligned almost perfectly with the hole in the bear skull, according to the study. Gimranov said the point is about the same size as the hole and may have been mounted onto a spear.

“Previous research has found that ice-age hunters pursued large cave bears, but the new study offers possibly the first direct evidence that humans also hunted small cave bears. Beyond the skull, Gimranov's team found more than 10,000 bones in Imanay Cave — from foxes, mammoths, cave lions, woolly rhinos, and other small cave bears. None of the various cave bear bones the researchers found showed signs of being gnawed. That wasn't unexpected, Gimranov said, because only 20 to 30 cave bear bones in the entire Eurasian fossil record show signs of butchering.

“So if the hunters at Imanay Cave didn't eat their ursine prey, it's possible they stumbled across the bear after it had died, then stabbed it as part of an ancient ritual. In the Paleolithic, ritual, sacred practices were widespread," Gimranov said, adding, "a hole in the skull could have been made after the death of the bear as a ritual practice."

Butchering Big Game

Samir S. Patel wrote in Archaeology magazine: “It's well known that ancient hunters all over the world took down big game. Recent finds and analyses of remains of extinct megafauna—including a massive ground sloth and juvenile mammoth—have stories to tell about how early humans secured and butchered these long-gone species. [Source: Samir S. Patel, Archaeology, Volume 65 Number 4, July/August 2012]

“At the site of Preresa, near Madrid, spain, archaeologists uncovered 82 bones from an elephant or mammoth alongside hundreds of stone tools. Dating to around 80,000 years ago, the bones show cut marks and percussion fractures—the first evidence that humans, in this case Nean-derthals, cracked open thick pachyderm bones to get at the fat-rich marrow inside.

“New analysis shows that the remains of a Jefferson’s ground sloth—which would have weighed nearly 3,000 pounds—found in a wetland near Cleveland, Ohio, are the only known evidence of humans eating ground sloths outside of South America. More than 40 incisions on one of the sloth’s femurs were caused by humans filleting the overlying muscle. At more than 13,000 years old, the finds are the oldest evidence of human occupation in the state.

“Preserved in Permafrost for at least 10,000 years, the remains of a juvenile mammoth, called "yuka," show signs that humans in the region may have stolen the car- cass from lions before carefully butchering it and then stashing the rest of the remains for cold storage. the incredibly pre- served remains show scratches and bite marks from lions, after which humans had removed the organs, vertebrae, ribs, and portions of the upper legs.”

60,000-Year-Old Knives From Israel Give Insights into How Early Humans Butchered Animals

Hadza hunters

Stone knives, dated to be 60,000 years old, found in sediments once along a lake in Israel give insights into how early hunter-gatherers butchered animals . The Miami Herald reported: The discovery was made at the Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet (NMO), a site along the left bank of the Jordan River, and consists of well-preserved animal remains and stone tools, according to a study published in Scientific Reports by the Catalan Institue of Human Paleocology and Social Evolution. [Source: Moira Ritter, Miami Herald,, February 1, 2023]

After a team of archaeologists worked to excavate the site, researchers carried out in-depth analysis of the stone tools to learn more about how they were used, the institute said. The study — which was led by Juan Ignacio Martin-Viveros, a researcher with the Catalan institute — analyzed wear marks on the edges of the tools to determine how they were used. The team of researchers concluded that unlike other remains that have been discovered from the same period, the tools found at NMO were uniquely made before the camp was set up and were not used for hunting, breaking from traditional understanding, according to the study.

Instead, early hunters used the cutting tools primarily for butchering large game, but also for “hide-processing, bone-scraping, and wood/plant processing,” the study said. The creation of the tools before reaching NMO exemplifies a “high level of planning and anticipation,” offering a new and unique look into prehistoric life and suggesting that early humans had a great cognitive capacity, researchers said. The Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet is located along the Jordan River near the Hula Valley in Israel’s northeast region.

Persistence Hunting

Persistence hunting — also known as endurance hunting or long-distance hunting, is a variant of pursuit predation in which a predator brings down a prey after a long pursuit — Is believed to have been practiced by prehistoric modern humans is still practiced by the Kalahari San of Botswana and the Raramuri people of northern Mexico. Many scientists believe large brains developed relatively rapidly hand in hand with scavenging and endurance runners. Our upright posture, relatively hairless skin with sweat glands allow us to keep cool in hot conditions. Our large buttocks muscles and elastic tendons allow us to run long distance more efficiently than other animals. [Source: Abraham Rinquist, Listverse, September 16, 2016]

San (bushmen) hunters often use poison arrows. The Kalahari San of southern Africa hunt with small bone- or iron-tipped coated with a very strong poison. The hunter-gatherers daub their weapons with larvae entrails of a beetle called Diamphidia nigroonata. The larvae contain a diamphotoxin poison that is capable of bringing down an adult giraffe. [Source: Science alert.com, August 8, 2020]

Traditionally, San hunters leave before dawn and travel in pairs. When game is spotted the trot around hunched-over with only their backs sticking up above the grass. In this position, the San say they look like small animals and the game doesn't get disturbed. When a hunter gets close enough he shoots as many as arrows as he can. Then collects the shafts and goes home. One bushman hunter told the New York Times, "If the kudu barks when you hit it you will eat tonight. It means you hit in the stomach. But if you hit it in the leg, you must follow it for two days.

San have great cardiovascular strength and endurance. They sometimes catch antelope by chasing them until they drop from exhaustion. The night after a successful hunt the hunter refuses to say anything about the kill, lest he bring bad luck. The next morning he and some of the other men track the animal. "On one hunt," wrote Thomas, "five Bushmen followed a wounded kudu almost thirty miles through very rough country, untangling its tracks from those of two small herds of kudu it had joined briefly. They found it at last—almost entirely eaten by lions. Only a scrap of the animal's skin and some of the bones could be salvaged to carry home. The hungry people cracked the bones for marrow and roasted the scrap of skin in the coals." [Source: Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, National Geographic, June 1963]

Another time they came across a poisoned wildebeest surrounded by lions. "The hunters," she wrote, "announcing their prior claim to the wildebeest in respectful terms—but flinging sticks, stones and lumps of sod as they spoke—marched right up to the lions. the lions rumbled and growled for a while but finally gave way...The men did not think they had done anything especially brave. 'This is what we do with to lions," one of the hunters said.'" [Ibid]

Dispatched animals are cleaned on the spot. Leaves are spread underneath the animal to keep the carcass clean. The hide is tanned for clothing. Everything is eaten even the bone marrow and the blood is cooked for old people with bad teeth. The first hunter to hit the animal with an arrow is responsible for divvying up the meat.

big fauna consumed at Blombos Cave in South Africa

Use of Poison 24,000 Years Ago in South Africa

Some of the earliest solid evidence of poison use is traces of the highly toxic compound ricin on 24,000-year-old notched wooden applicators, found in South Africa’s Border cave. Zach Zorich wrote in Archaeology magazine: The artifact was found in the 1970s, but new chemical analyses conducted by a research team led by Francesco d’Errico of Bordeaux University in France revealed trace amounts of substances from poisonous castor beans. The stick may have been used to apply poison to arrowheads just as a culture of modern-day hunter-gatherers called the San does today in southern Africa. According to d’Errico, poison is an important part of traditional San hunting methods because their bone-tipped arrows usually don’t cause enough damage to kill large prey on their own. [Source: Zach Zorich, Archaeology, December 6, 2012 )*(]

“In South Africa’s Border Cave, archaeologists found ostrich eggshell beads, wooden digging sticks and notched sticks used to apply poison to arrowheads. The poison applicator is just one of several artifacts, some dating to as early as 44,000 years ago, that resemble objects used by the San. Others include a digging stick, ostrich eggshell beads, carved pig tusks, bone arrowheads, and a lump of beeswax. D’Errico’s team believes the artifacts indicate that San culture emerged about 44,000 years ago, making these artifacts the earliest link to a culture of modern humans. )*(

“The findings also clarify why it is thought that modern human behavior—loosely defined as making objects that show symbolic thinking or complex hunting methods—may have begun in Africa. Earlier evidence of such behavior has been uncovered in South Africa at sites such as Blombos Cave and Pinnacle Point, where beads, pigments, and artifacts related to fishing that date to more than 100,000 years ago have been found. Those types of artifacts, however, seem to disappear from the archaeological record at later times, indicating that those cultures may have died out. The poison and other artifacts from Border Cave, on the other hand, are the earliest that can be directly connected to an extant culture. “We think of modern humans as people who are able to change their culture all the time,” says d’Errico, “but when we have a very effective cultural adaptation, we don’t need to change.” )*(

First Use of Poison Arrows — 72,000 Years Ago in South Africa?

San (Bushman) hunter

According to Archaeology magazine: Applying poison to arrows has great benefits. The projectile does not have to be very substantial or to be shot with great force to cause a lethal wound — it only needs to penetrate deep enough for the poison to enter the bloodstream. An analysis of bone arrowheads from Blombos Cave indicates that this technology may date back 72,000 years. The shape and small size of the points found there suggests that they were likely coated in toxins; otherwise their diminutive nature would have rendered them virtually ineffective. [Source: Archaeology magazine, November-December 2020]

In a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science Reports in August 2020, archaeologist Marlize Lombard from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa examined the unique properties of known poison arrows, comparing them to those that don’t rely on poison, by analysing 128 bone pointed arrows. Arrows that don’t use poison need to deeply pierce the bodies of prey to effectively kill or incapacitate, whereas those laced with poison just need to stab through an animal’s skin to access its bloodstream. Using a measurement called the tip cross-sectional area (the part of the arrowhead important for both cutting into prey hide and the arrow’s flight dynamics) allowed Lombard to compare arrows through time. She focused her study on bone-tipped arrows because a lot of previous work looked only at stone-tipped arrows, given more of these have been preserved.[Source: Science alert.com, August 8, 2020]

Lombard then assessed 306 Late Stone Age bone-point arrows, for these established properties. Six of the bone-pointed arrows dated as far back as 72,000-80,000 years, from the Blombos Cave in South Africa. Three of these arrows have properties consistent with poisoned arrowheads. One is smaller, which if used as an un-poisoned arrowhead would have been ineffective,” Lombard wrote, which would make these the oldest known poison arrows in the world.

The sample size for the oldest arrows is small, and Lombard cautions that such a metric approach to weapons function can only tell us what the weapon had the potential to achieve, rather than the way they were actually used. Other clues are also required to establish probable use. “When dealing with the human past, numbers alone can seldom reveal the nuances necessary for a deep understanding of techno-behaviours — for that a measure of qualitative assessment and interpretation is required,” she wrote.

Another of the bone points found at Klasies River Mouth in South Africa, older than 60,000 years, was found to have micro-cracks, which are consistent with use as an arrow. This arrow was also found to have a black residue that Lombard and other researchers suspect is either poison, glue, or even both. In more recent times, humans have made use of poisons from a large variety of life, including plants, poison dart frogs and even venomous lizards. Today, some of these poisons have the potential to be medically useful.

Hunting Small Game

Ker Than of National Geographic wrote: “The piercing spears and clubs known to have been used by European Neanderthals weren’t very well suited for catching rabbits. In contrast, early modern humans used complex projectile weapons such as spear throwers and possibly bows and arrows—both of which are better for hunting small, fast-moving prey. There are other ways to catch rabbits, however. There is evidence that Neanderthals were capable of making string, so it’s very possible that they were able to weave nets and snares to use as traps, Shea said. [Source: Ker Than, National Geographic, March 11, 2013 ^^]

John Fa, a biologist at the United Kingdom’s Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and Imperial College London, has researched the matter. “Fa and his team speculate that most of the rabbit hunting among early modern humans may have been done by women and children, who could have stayed behind in settlements while the men went on hunting trips for larger prey. The women and children “may have specialized in hunting rabbits, by surrounding warrens with nets or smoking the rabbits out of the warren,” Fa said. ^^

“Ancient rabbit hunters may also have had help from a four-legged ally picked up during their travels from Africa: dogs. The oldest fossil evidence for dogs is only about 12,000 years old, but there is genetic evidence suggesting dogs may have split from wolves as far back as 30,000 years ago-around the time that humans were arriving in Europe. “What we are saying is that this may have occurred,” Fa said. “The domestication of the dog for hunting purposes may have been a tremendous advantage for human hunters.” ^^

Early Humans Were Skilled Deep-Sea Fishermen 42,000 Years Ago

More than 40,000 years ago, prehistoric humans living in what is now East Timor ago possessed the skills necessary to catch deep ocean fish such as tuna. Discovery News reported: “In a small cave at the eastern end of East Timor, north of Australia, archaeologist Sue O’Connor from the Australian National University has unearthed the bones of more than 2,800 fish, some of which were caught as long as 42,000 years ago. [Source: Discovery News, November 28, 2011 |^|]

“The find shows that the people living in the region had the sophisticated cognitive skills needed to haul in such a difficult catch, O’Connor says. Her findings appeared in the journal Science. “What the site has shown us is that early modern humans in island Southeast Asia had amazingly advanced maritime skills,” she said. “They were expert at catching the types of fish that would be challenging even today — fish like tuna. It’s a very exciting find.” |^|

“It isn’t clear exactly what techniques the people living in the area at the time used to catch these fish. Tuna can be caught using nets or by trolling hooks on long lines through the water, O’Connor said. “Either way it seems certain that these people were using quite sophisticated technology and watercraft to fish offshore. She said it also demonstrated prehistoric man had high-level maritime skills, and by implication, the technology needed to make the ocean crossings to reach Australia.|^|

world's oldest fish hooks, from East Timor

Nikhil Swaminathan wrote in Archaeology magazine: “Two 11-square-foot pits dug in Jerimalai Cave on the east end of East Timor have provided some of the earliest evidence of fishing technology. Though there is little evidence of fishing activity beyond 10,000 years ago, fragments of fish hooks found in the cave date to between 16,000 and 23,000 years ago, making them the oldest ever recovered. A more complete hook dating to 11,000 years ago was also found at the site. [Source: Nikhil Swaminathan, Archaeology, Volume 65 Number 2, March/April 2012 ]

“The inch-long hooks, all of which were made of shells from sea snails, would have been used to catch shallow-water fish, such as grouper and snapper, says Sue O'Connor, an archaeologist at Australian National University, who coauthored a study on the finds in Science. "They would have had a fiber line attached to the shank, and bait put on the hook," she explains. "Then, they would be cast or lowered into the water and left stationary."

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Nature, Scientific American. Live Science, Discover magazine, Discovery News, Ancient Foods ancientfoods.wordpress.com ; Times of London, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, BBC, The Guardian, Reuters, AP, AFP and various books and other publications.

Last updated May 2024