[ad_1]
Ancient bones found at archeological sites in Germany suggest that primitive people skinned bears for their skins at least 320,000 years ago.
Signs on the phalanx and metatarsal bones of the cave bearUrsus spelaeus Or U. deningeri) represents some of the earliest known evidence of this type, and illustrates one of the measures our early relatives used to survive the harsh winter conditions prevailing at the time.
“The exploitation of bears, especially cave bears, has been debated for more than a century, not only in terms of hominin nutrition, but also for the use of hides,” said a team of researchers led by archaezoologist Ivo Verheijen of the University of Tübingen in Germany.
“Tracing the origins of cryptic exploitation contributes to understanding survival strategies in the cold and harsh conditions of northwestern Europe during the Middle Pleistocene.”
The region around the city of Schöningen, Germany It has been of interest to archaeologists for decades. In the year In the 1990s, researchers recovered ancient artifacts from a nearby open-cut mine, including a collection of spears dating back 300,000 to 337,000 years.
Other items include stone tools, bone tools and many animal bones, including a cave bear. And many of the bones have cut marks on them – a sign that the ancients used to kill animals, their tools breaking the bones as they go.
But the cut marks on the two palm bones were curious. Not only are they small and precise, their presence there is a cause for investigation.
“Cut marks on bones are often interpreted in archeology to indicate the use of meat,” explains Verheijn. “However, there is no meat from the bones of the hands and feet. In this case, we can call such small and accurate cut marks by carefully peeling off the skin.”
They compared their bones to other examples analyzed in the scientific literature, including cut marks on bear paw bones and eventually skinning. The cut marks on the bones found in Schöningen led Verheijn and his team to conclude that early humans (or A man from Heidelberg or Neanderthals) were skinning bears when the site was in use.
This probably gave the population better protection than the relatively hairless skins. Bears have thick coats when it is very hot; In winter, it is supplemented with a growth of a soft layer that provides additional protection against the cold. Although the world was then in an interglacial period – that is, between ice ages, it was relatively warm – winters were still harsh.
“These newly discovered cut marks indicate that people living in northern Europe around 300,000 years ago were able to survive the winter in part because of the warm bearskins,” said Verheijn.
This naturally raises the question of how the skins were obtained. A bear’s skin needs to be skinned quickly after death in order to be used, so simply waiting for a cave bear to drop dead isn’t a viable strategy. Fortunately, the bones and weapons found at the site suggest the answer.
“If only adult animals are found at an archaeological site, this is usually considered a sign of hunting,” says Verheijn. “All the bear bones and teeth at Schöningen were adults.”
So, put together, the bear was hunting bears in Schöningen, then skinning them into luxurious straw. It’s open to conjecture how exactly they used these pills, but it’s unlikely that such groups of people could have been getting away with it, the researchers said. Therefore, their skin may be used for clothing or sleeping.
The study was published in Journal of Human Evolution.
[ad_2]
Source link
