Mammoth hunting, methods and weapons. Life in an ancient mine: how did our ancestors hunt mammoths? The story of how ancient people hunted mammoths

Epoch Upper Paleolithic covers the period from 40 to 12 thousand years ago. This is the time when in Europe there was abrupt change appearance material culture, which found its expression in a set of shapes of stone tools and high level development of bone processing technology. It is at the Upper Paleolithic sites of ancient hunter-gatherers that archaeologists find evidence of the active use of bone, horn and tusk raw materials, from which a variety of household items, jewelry, figurines of people and animals, and weapons were made.

About 25-12 thousand years ago, in the periglacial zone of the Russian Plain, an original bright culture of mammoth hunters was formed. One of its centers was located on the territory of the Desna River basin, a large right tributary of the Dnieper River. For more than 15 years, archaeologists of the Kunstkamera have been excavating Upper Paleolithic sites in this region dating from 16,000 to 12,000 years ago. The most important among the studied monuments is the Yudinovo site in the Bryansk region of Russia.

Gennady Khlopachev:

At present, the question of whether ancient people hunted mammoths is debatable. Some researchers are sure that the numerous finds of mammoth bones in the sites are the result of hunting for these animals. Others believe that ancient people brought bones and tusks from "mammoth cemeteries" - places where the carcasses of fallen mammoths accumulate. Among the exhibits of the Kunstkamera there is a unique find of a mammoth rib with a fragment of a flint point stuck in it from the Kostenki 1 site. This is important evidence in favor of the hypothesis of the existence of mammoth hunting in the Upper Paleolithic. However, this does not mean that people could not use the tusks of fallen animals as ornamental material.

Where did the mammoth hunters live?

The sites of mammoth hunters differed in their purpose and duration of operation. Some were long-term, some meant only a short stay or even a visit. In some places, people came to hunt or gather, in others - to extract the necessary stone raw materials.

The Yudinovo Upper Paleolithic site was discovered in 1934 by the Soviet, Belarusian archaeologist Konstantin Mikhailovich Polikarpovich. Researches of the site have a long history, excavations were carried out by several generations of Soviet and Russian archaeologists. In 1984, two dwellings made of mammoth bones discovered here were museumified, a special pavilion was erected above them. The expedition of the MAE RAS has been excavating the site since 2001.

The Yudinovskaya site was located far from the sources of flint raw materials - the most important material for the manufacture of a wide variety of tools: points, scrapers, chisels, piercings. Archaeologists discovered the flint outcrops closest to the site thanks to aerial photography taken from a small single-engine aircraft. Scientists associate the place of the Yudinovsky settlement with the nearby ancient ford, which served as a crossing for animals. The ford was discovered by archaeologists as a result of underwater research in the place where locals mammoth bones were often raised. It turned out that here the bottom of the river is formed by a layer of very dense clay. Ancient man knew about this and came here to hunt.

The Yudinovskoye settlement is often defined as a long-term site of one local group of primitive mammoth hunters. However, this does not mean that people lived there continuously.

Gennady Khlopachev, Head of the Department of Archeology, MAE RAS:

Ancient hunters migrated, and this site was visited many times. In one season of the year, people lived here for a long time, in some they could stop at a short time. Two cultural layers have been discovered at the Yudinovskaya site, which contain evidence of numerous visits at different times. The lower cultural layer dates back to about 14.5 thousand years ago, the upper - 12.5-12 thousand years ago.

The cultural layer is the horizon of occurrence of cultural finds with various anthropogenic remains. The lower cultural layer of the Yudinovskaya site lies at a depth of 2 to 3 meters from the modern day surface.

How ancient people built dwellings from mammoth bones

On the territory of Yudinov, five dwellings of the Anosovo-Mezin type were found - these are round-shaped structures made of mammoth bones. Similar objects were previously discovered at the sites of Mezin and Anosovka 2. True, they are called dwellings to a certain extent conditionally, because it is not completely clear how people used them.

These designs are unique. During their construction, a small depression was made, around which mammoth skulls were dug in in a certain way, placing them with their alveoli down and frontal parts in the center of the circle. The space between the skulls was filled with other bones - large tubular, ribs, shoulder blades, jaws, vertebrae. Most likely, the bones were held together with sandy loam. In diameter, such a design could have from 2 to 5 meters.

In "dwellings" are often found different kind handicrafts and jewelry made of mammoth tusk, numerous shells with holes for hanging, some of which come from the Black Sea coast. Often objects are found inside the structure itself. For example, in the alveolus of one of the skulls of a mammoth, archaeologists found ocher, between the teeth of another vertically mounted skull - a large ornamented thread from a small milk tusk of a mammoth.

Gennady Khlopachev, Head of the Department of Archeology, MAE RAS:

The position of the find rules out the possibility that it could have ended up between the teeth of a mammoth's skull by accident. It was placed on purpose. A significant part of the objects of art found at the Yudinovskaya site, tools with rich ornamentation comes from excavations of such structures. Perhaps people used these structures as dwellings, or perhaps they had a ritual character, where they brought "gifts".

What do we know about the economy of mammoth hunters

In addition to dwellings, utility pits were located on the territory of the Yudinovsky settlement. Some of them were used for storing meat, others for waste disposal. Meat pits were dug to permafrost, animal meat was placed inside, and the top was pressed down with mammoth shovels and tusks. Archaeologists distinguish between such vaults and pits by the particular set of bones found in them. These are the remains of many animal species: mammoths, wolves, musk oxen, arctic foxes and various birds.

Gennady Khlopachev, Head of the Department of Archeology, MAE RAS:

There is a scientific concept of "faunistic mammoth complex": these are the bone remains of a mammoth and other animals of the Late Pleistocene that coexisted simultaneously with it. About 12-10 thousand years ago, the climate in Eastern Europe changed, the ice age ended, warming came, mammoths died out. Along with them, the culture of mammoth hunters also disappeared. Other animals became objects of hunting, and, as a result, the type of economy changed.

The remains of animals found at the Yudinovsky settlement not only tell about what animals the ancient man hunted, but allow high precision determine what seasons people lived in this parking lot. The study of the bone remains of young animals, as well as the bones of migratory birds, makes it possible to determine with an accuracy of up to a month, and sometimes up to a week, when they were taken by hunters.

Weapons, tools and products of ancient man

Found at the Yudinovskaya site a large number of tools and weapons. Hoes, tusk scrapers, bone knives, hammers were often decorated with complex geometric ornaments. At the Yudinovskaya site, an ornament imitating the skin of a snake was widespread.

It is believed that the bow was invented already in the Upper Paleolithic. For hunting, tips and darts made from mammoth ivory were used. Often they were equipped with flint inserts: plates of flint with a blunt edge. The inserts, successively placed on the surface of the tip, significantly enhanced its damaging capabilities.

Gennady Khlopachev, Head of the Department of Archeology, MAE RAS:

The use of liners for the manufacture of hunting tools has become revolutionary invention Upper Paleolithic man. This made it possible to hunt large animals such as mammoths. In 2010, a unique find of a tusk tip was made at the Yudinovsky settlement, in which several flint inserts were preserved. To date, only four such finds have come from Europe.

In addition to weapons and household items, objects that did not have a utilitarian purpose are often found in parking lots. These are various decorations: brooches, pendants, tiaras, bracelets, necklaces.

Upper Paleolithic burials are unknown for the region of the Desna river basin. For the entire period of the study of the Yudinovskaya site, only one fragment of the tibia of an adult and three milk teeth of children were found. It is planned that these remains can be used for DNA extraction. ancient man, which will allow you to imagine what the ancient inhabitants of this settlement looked like.

Niramin - Jun 6th, 2016

The main occupation of primitive people was getting their own food. They wandered after large animals, collected nuts, berries and various roots. And when they did, they went hunting.

Prehistoric people were very good hunters. They learned how to drive animals into traps. The trap was watery swamps or deep ditches. A group of hunters with noise, screams and fire drove the animal straight into the pit. When an animal fell into a ditch, the hunters had only to finish it off and celebrate the prey.

Mammoths are huge animals, they were bigger and heavier modern elephants. Mammoth tusks could reach a length of 4 m and a weight of 100 kg. Scientists believe that mammoths used their tusks as snow plows to dig grass out of the snow for food.

Killing one mammoth could feed the hunters for two months. Moreover, not a single part of the carcass of the animal was wasted. The meat was used for food, and what people could not eat right away was dried and stored in storerooms. From the skin they made themselves warm clothes and built huts. Bones were used as tools and weapons, as well as in the construction of huts.

The process of hunting for a mammoth was often depicted in primitive rock art tribes of that time. There is an opinion that people depicted in the drawings those animals that they worshiped or hunted. So painting served a certain magic ritual as if the picture will attract the real animal while hunting.

Hunting of primitive people for mammoths - in the pictures and photos below:

Photo: Rock drawing of a mammoth.

Photo: Hut made of mammoth bones in the Paleontological Museum of Kyiv.

Video: 10,000 BC (1/10) Movie CLIP - The Mammoth Hunt (2008) HD

Video: 10,000 BC (2/10) Movie CLIP - Killing the Mammoth (2008) HD

Mammoth Hunting Secrets

Teenagers who have read books about the life of primitive people are sure that there are no secrets in this hunt. Everything is simple. Bristling with spears, the savages surround the huge mammoth and deal with it. Until recently, many archaeologists were convinced of this. However, new discoveries, as well as an analysis of previous findings, force us to rethink the usual truths.

So, archaeologists from the Institute of Primitive and early history at the University of Cologne, they studied 46 Neanderthal sites and hunting grounds in Germany, examined thousands of animal bones found here. Their conclusion is clear. Ancient hunters were very prudent people. They weighed all the consequences of their actions, and therefore were in no hurry to rush to the huge beast. They deliberately chose the prey a certain kind, and attacked individuals weighing less than a ton. The list of their trophies includes wild horses, deer, steppe bison. At least, this was the case 40-60 thousand years ago (this is the age of the studied finds).

But not only the choice of the victim was important. Primitive people did not wander aimlessly through the forests and dales in the hope that they would be lucky. No, hunting became for them something like a military operation, which had to be carefully prepared. It was necessary, for example, to find a place in the forest or steppe where it would be possible to strike at the enemy with the least losses for themselves. The real find for the “lovitva commanders” was the steep banks of the rivers. Here the earth suddenly left from under the feet of the intended victim. The invisible spirits of the rivers seemed to be ready to help people who came here in everything. It was possible to hide near a watering place and, jumping out of an ambush, finish off the gaping animals. Or wait near the ford. Here, stretching out in a chain, the animals one by one, carefully probing the bottom, move to the other side. Move slowly, cautiously. At these moments, they are very vulnerable, which both the Cro-Magnons and the Neanderthals, who collected their bloody catch, knew well.

Mammoth hunting. Artist Z. Burian

The cunning and prudence of the ancient hunters can be easily explained by their weakness. Their opponents were animals that sometimes weighed ten times more than they did. And he had to fight in close combat, staying close to the beast, furious with pain and fear. Indeed, before the invention of the bow, primitive man had to get close to the prey. Spear blows were delivered from fifteen meters, no further. They beat the beast with a pike and did it from three meters. So, if the operation "Word" or "Waterhole" was planned, the fighters had to hide somewhere behind the bushes, near the water, in order to reduce the distance separating from the beast to the limit with one jump. Endurance and precision meant life here. Haste and miss - death. Throwing yourself like a bayonet attack with a pointed stick at an adult mammoth is like death. And people hunted to still survive.

The myth of the brave men who, with a spear in their hand, blocked the path of ancient elephants, was born immediately after the Second World War. It didn't come out of nowhere. In the spring of 1948 in the town of Lehringen, in Lower Saxony, during construction works skeleton was found forest elephant who died 90 thousand years ago. Between the ribs of the animal lay a spear, assured amateur archaeologist Alexander Rozenshtok, who was the first to investigate the find. This spear, broken into eleven pieces, has since been considered the main argument of those who portrayed the insane courage of primitive people. But did that memorable hunt take place?

A recent study disproved the obvious findings. In that remote era, the place where the remains of the elephant were found was the edge of the lake. It was connected by channels with other surrounding lakes. The current rolled objects that fell into the water, for example, the same spear, transferring them from one place to another. It seems that they were not even going to hunt with this spear. They, judging by the blunt end, dug the ground on the shore, and then dropped it into the water, and the current carried it into the lake, where it ran into the carcass of an animal that blocked its path.

If there was a hunt that day, there was nothing heroic about it. An old elephant was dying on the shore of the lake. Here his legs buckled, the body sank to the ground. From the crowd of people who were watching from afar the last convulsions of the beast, a young man resolutely stepped out. I took the spear. Approached. Looked around. hit. Nothing dangerous. The elephant didn't even move. What is the strength drove a spear into him. Waved to the others. You can split the loot. This is also a plausible scenario.

What about other finds? Torralba in Spain, Gröbern and Neumark-Nord in Germany - skeletons of mammoths slain by people have also been found here. However, the first impression was again deceptive. Having re-examined the bones of animals, archaeologists found only characteristic traces of processing them with stone tools - obviously, traces of butchering carcasses, but this does not prove in any way that primitive people personally killed this prey. After all, the thickness of the skin of an adult mammoth, which reached about 4 meters in height, ranged from 2.5 to 4 centimeters. With a primitive wooden spear, at best, it was possible to inflict a lacerated wound on an animal, but not kill it - especially since the “right of the next blow” remained with the enraged elephant.

And was the game worth the candle? In fact, the mammoth was not such a profitable prey. Most of his carcasses would simply go bad. “Neanderthals were smart people. They wanted to get the maximum meat with a minimum of risk to themselves,” archaeologists say unanimously. Neanderthals lived in small groups, which consisted of 5-7 people. AT warm time years, it took such a tribe half a month to eat 400 kilograms of meat. If the carcass weighed more, the rest would have to be thrown away.

So what about anatomically? modern man settled in Europe 40 thousand years ago? No wonder he is a "reasonable being" by definition. Maybe he knew the secrets of hunting mammoths?

Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen have been examining mammoth bones found in caves near Ulm, where the Gravettes culture people (by the time it arose, Neanderthals had already died out) were located. The analysis of the finds gave an unambiguous result. In all cases, carcasses of mammoth cubs aged from two weeks to two months were butchered.

Employees of the Paris Museum of Natural History explored another site of people of the Gravette culture, located in the town of Milovich in the Czech Republic. The remains of 21 mammoths were found here. In seventeen cases, these are cubs, and in another four, young animals. The Miloviche site was located on the slope of a small valley, whose bottom was made of loess. In the spring, when mammoth cubs were born, the frozen ground thawed, and the loess turned into a mess in which the young mammoths got stuck. Kindred could not help them. The hunters waited for the herd to leave, and then finished off the victim. Perhaps people deliberately drove the mammoths into this "swamp", scaring them with torches.

But what about the brave ones? Really, there were never those who, with a spear at the ready, desperately rushed at the mammoth, not sparing their belly? Probably, there were also such daredevils. Only heroes - they are heroes for that, to die young, for example, under the feet of an angry elephant. We, in all likelihood, are the descendants of those prudent hunters who, from an ambush, could wait for days until a lone mammoth cub dies in the trap where it fell. But we, their descendants, are alive, and usually only a memory remains of the heroes.