The image of a group of prehistoric hunters bravely taking down large Ice Age animals with stone-tipped spears is certainly popular, but did this ever really happen?
Unfortunately, the answer is probably “no.” And even more disappointingly, we’ll most likely never know exactly how our early ancestors hunted, though there are plenty of tantalizing clues.
Over 10,000 Clovis points have been discovered in North America, dating from around 13,000 years ago, when woolly mammoths, cave bears, saber-toothed cats, and giant ground sloths still roamed the continent. These sharp points, made from stones such as flint, chert, chalcedony, obsidian, and jasper, were likely involved in hunting but probably weren’t affixed to spears that were hurled at woolly mammoths and other prehistoric megafauna.
In a recent study, a team of UC Berkeley researchers used oak planks to represent prehistoric megafauna to test the potential strength of these points when attached to spears. They found that although they might be able to penetrate the hide of large animals, they wouldn’t do much damage beyond that.
The more likely use was to attach them to shafts planted in the ground as pikes. Then, when the mammoths charged at them, they would be impaled due to their weight and forward momentum. However, although this theory fits with more recent historical evidence of pikes being used to kill large animals such as bears, lions, and boars, or in battle against charging warhorses, it is still a matter of conjecture whether the Clovis points were used this way.
Making sense of mammoth hunters:
- The first Clovis points were discovered in 1929 in Clovis, New Mexico, in close proximity to mammoth bones. Many similar discoveries have been made, including some with bones presumably cut by the sharpened stones.
- Unfortunately, though Clovis points often have fluted indentations that look like they could accommodate a wooden shaft, none of these shafts have been found due to the effects of time, leaving experts to guess whether they were attached to spears, embedded pikes, or knives (or all three).
- While researchers have found cut marks on the remains of prehistoric megafauna like woolly mammoths, mastodons, and giant bison, it remains unclear whether these animals were hunted or whether their remains were simply scavenged and butchered.
