Spanish historians discover humans' mammoth-hunting habits

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.

“We're really intrigued by these results, because we've got a case here where we can say with all certainty that, right here, 30,000 years ago, groups of humans decided to hunt mammoths,” says Aritza Villaluenga, excavation leader and researcher in geography, archaeology and prehistoric studies at the UPV.

The dig, carried out thanks to a cooperation deal between the UPV's Consolidated Prehistoric Studies Research Group and the Isturitz & Oxocelhaya Caves – financed by the Nouvelle Aquitaine Regional Service, had been shelved for a year due to the pandemic, but finally took place from the end of March and ended on Saturday (April 17), three weeks later.

Given that the mammoth hunts took place at around the time of the last Ice Age, Villaluenga says it is unclear whether they were targeted purely for food, or for warmth, such as using their skins as blankets or clothes.

“Our work now is to try to find an explanation, with all the material we have to hand, to work out at exactly what moment it all happened and why humans had to resort to this as a solution,” says Villaluenga.

“It could have been at a time of climate stress, for example, because we can see that the remains of the mammoths appear to be associated with thousands of fragments of burnt bones – and this would only have happened during the coldest periods, when woodlands and forests disappeared due to low temperatures and there was not enough wood around to light fires, so they may have had to break up animal bones and burn them.

“We've also found bones that may have been used to make tools with. We've found a piece with distinct marks on it...although we'll need to study it in detail, it could be that they had other apparatus, so they could make it pointed.

“The process towards finding out what was happening will be a long one. Our field work is finished, so now the laboratory work is about to start – which could well take a couple of years,” Villaluenga concludes.