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.works 2 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.
Deceptichum@quokk.au 2 months ago
Also it’s unlikely people across the world all used the same hunting method.