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.

  • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
    18·
    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
      6·
      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.