How did early humans use sharpened rocks to bring down megafauna 13,000 years ago? Did they throw spears tipped with carefully crafted, razor-sharp rocks called Clovis points? Did they surround and jab mammoths and mastodons? Or did they scavenge wounded animals, using Clovis points as a versatile tool to harvest meat and bones for food and supplies?

How did early humans use sharpened rocks to bring down megafauna 13,000 years ago? Did they throw spears tipped with carefully crafted, razor-sharp rocks called Clovis points? Did they surround and jab mammoths and mastodons? Or did they scavenge wounded animals, using Clovis points as a versatile tool to harvest meat and bones for food and supplies?

UC Berkeley archaeologists say the answer might be none of the above.

Instead, researchers say humans may have braced the butt of their pointed spears against the ground and angled the weapon upward in a way that would impale a charging animal. The force would have driven the spear deeper into the predator’s body, unleashing a more damaging blow than even the strongest prehistoric hunters would have been capable of on their own.

  • kata1yst@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    481·
    3 months ago

    We know they hearded them off cliffs in many parts of the world, probably egged on by throwing spears and jabs.

    It seems pretty unlikely they’d have regularly risked death by planting a spear and waiting for a charge. It’s not like a multiple ton animal is going to be stopped by the spear.

    • Hegar@fedia.io
      36·
      3 months ago

      Goading or herding a mammoth into a pre-planted pikewall seems much more likely than a single hunter planting a spear and waiting for a charge.

      Narrow or raised terrain, hunting blinds or other kinds of prepared cover could also make a more in the moment sort of plant-and-dodge tactic less likely to result in injury.

    • Beacon@fedia.io
      3·
      3 months ago

      I’m not an archeologist in any way, but yeah what you said makes way more sense than what the article describes. It would be nearly suicide to wait for a big animal to charge at you and then try to pike them with a spear. There are so many safer and equally efficient ways to use a spear to kill an animal.

      Just off the top of my head i can imagine lots of ways to do it. Like use 10 foot spears and herd the animal into a trench, then a bunch of guys can safely stab it from above. Or herd it into an enclosed area and then drop a bunch of heavy logs into the exit so the animal is trapped, then throw spears at it from a safe area. Etc

      • webghost0101@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        3·
        3 months ago

        You would need a lot of time and energy to build a trench, mammoths may not stay in the area.

        I am under the impression you don’t stay with the spear and its spike zone serving a similar purpose as a trench. Maybe they realized mammoths will try to ram those if you provoke em from behind the spikes zone.

        Especially in a snowy area i can see it doable to quickly plant some spikes walls in the snow to help wall in an animal. Though it may be just bias that i assume mammoth = snow area

        Doesn’t exclude using other techniques combined with that. I am pretty sure that trenches with spikes did exist some time in history

  • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
    19·
    3 months ago

    That makes sense honestly. I can’t imagine developing enough power even with an atlatl to sink a javelin deep enough to kill a mammoth.

    • MorallyCoffee@lemmy.mlEnglish
      7·
      3 months ago

      That was always my thought when looking at those points: “How exactly did a person throw that through the skin of an elephant?”

    • Hegar@fedia.io
      1·
      3 months ago

      A modern paleo-hunting enthusiast showed that an atlatl can generate enough power to one-shot a bison. The projectile pierced the opposite side, I believe.

      Obviously a planted pike is going to be more force, but I wouldn’t be surprised if atlatl mammoth kills are possible.

  • N0body@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    151·
    3 months ago

    Sheer balls of steel letting that massive beast charge right at you while holding a spear and bracing for impact.