To kill mammoths in the Ice Age, people used planted pikes, not throwing spears, researchers say (phys.org)
from recreationalplacebos@midwest.social to archaeology@mander.xyz on 21 Aug 2024 22:14
https://midwest.social/post/15995021

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.

#archaeology

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kata1yst@sh.itjust.works on 21 Aug 2024 22:31 next collapse

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 on 21 Aug 2024 22:38 next collapse

Also it’s unlikely people across the world all used the same hunting method.

Beacon@fedia.io on 21 Aug 2024 23:40 next collapse

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.xyz on 22 Aug 2024 00:26 collapse

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

Hegar@fedia.io on 22 Aug 2024 00:04 collapse

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.

intensely_human@lemm.ee on 22 Aug 2024 02:30 collapse

Just hiding those pikes in some shrubbery would do the trick.

acockworkorange@mander.xyz on 22 Aug 2024 11:43 collapse

A nice one. Next to this one here. Now GO! Or we shall say Ni to you a second time!

ravhall@discuss.online on 22 Aug 2024 00:16 next collapse

humans may have braced the butt

He he he

100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it on 22 Aug 2024 04:38 collapse

He he he… >!braced!<

N0body@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 22 Aug 2024 00:29 next collapse

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

tilefan@lemm.ee on 22 Aug 2024 01:26 next collapse

how are you tricking an animal into charging straight into a tree or something?

Frozengyro@lemmy.world on 22 Aug 2024 02:15 next collapse

Probably taunt it into running at you

tilefan@lemm.ee on 22 Aug 2024 02:28 next collapse

but they can see the tree behind you.

Paraponera_clavata@lemmy.world on 22 Aug 2024 04:09 collapse

Tree?

tilefan@lemm.ee on 22 Aug 2024 04:25 collapse

scroll up?

intensely_human@lemm.ee on 22 Aug 2024 02:29 next collapse

Yo mama was a mastodon!

FatLegTed@piefed.social on 22 Aug 2024 16:03 collapse

Or you could taunt it a second time.

Flyberius@hexbear.net on 22 Aug 2024 03:08 next collapse

I’m guessing you can do the old trick of lying them flat and then jerking them up at the perfect moment with rope. Or as the article says, have balls of steel and let the animal charge you, planting the spear at the very last moment

tilefan@lemm.ee on 22 Aug 2024 03:44 collapse

maybe it was a pike wall like in combat

Flyberius@hexbear.net on 22 Aug 2024 09:45 collapse

I think what they are getting at is that an animal tends to not want to run into a spear, so I’m thinking there might be some trickery involved such as concealing the spear or rapidly bringing it to bear

DarkThoughts@fedia.io on 22 Aug 2024 12:38 collapse

Into a tree? What are you talking about?

intensely_human@lemm.ee on 22 Aug 2024 02:28 next collapse

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.ml on 22 Aug 2024 02:54 next collapse

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 on 23 Aug 2024 17:36 collapse

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.

ObsidianZed@lemmy.world on 22 Aug 2024 04:49 next collapse

Waiting for my new Far Cry Primal update now.

Microplasticbrain@lemm.ee on 22 Aug 2024 05:19 next collapse

Isn’t this what the guy did on accident in the movie 10,000 B.C.

luciole@beehaw.org on 23 Aug 2024 03:25 collapse

This makes way more sense and it’s way more epic. Well played, ancestors.