How Ancient Humans Hunted Giant Animals

Next to a chimpanzee, your ancestors were frail. Next to a lion, they were a snack. Yet they hunted mammoths, giant bison and elephants bigger than any alive today, on almost every continent. How does the weakest animal in the room win? Not with strength. With distance. A 500,000-year-old stone spear tip in South Africa. The oldest complete hunting spears ever found, balanced like modern javelins. A spear stuck between the ribs of a straight-tusked elephant. A shoulder built like a slingshot. A 45,000-year-old mammoth hunt in the Arctic. Spear-throwers, arrows, poison, Clovis points, a cliff that killed bison by the herd, and the strangest weapon of all: the hunter himself. 0:00 Could you hunt an elephant? 0:47 Kathu Pan: the first stone-tipped spears 1:29 Schöningen: the oldest spears ever found 2:39 Lehringen: a spear between an elephant's ribs 2:58 Your shoulder is a slingshot 3:52 Siberia: hunting mammoths in the Arctic 4:41 The atlatl: physics in the Ice Age 5:05 The first arrows 5:33 Poison: the hunt becomes chemistry 6:06 Clovis points and the vanishing giants 6:54 Head-Smashed-In: the weapon was the plan 7:25 Persistence hunting: the hunter himself 8:04 The whole map If you enjoyed this, like, subscribe, and tell us in the comments which invention we should explain next. SOURCES Wilkins, J., Schoville, B. J., Brown, K. S. & Chazan, M. (2012). Evidence for early hafted hunting technology. Science. Thieme, H. (1997). Lower Palaeolithic hunting spears from Germany. Nature. Milks, A., Parker, D. & Pope, M. (2019). External ballistics of Pleistocene hand-thrown spears: experimental performance data and implications for human evolution. Scientific Reports. Thieme, H. & Veil, S. (1985). Neue Untersuchungen zum eemzeitlichen Waldelefanten-Jagdplatz Lehringen, Ldkr. Verden. Die Kunde. Roach, N. T., Venkadesan, M., Rainbow, M. J. & Lieberman, D. E. (2013). Elastic energy storage in the shoulder and the evolution of high-speed throwing in Homo. Nature. Pitulko, V. V. et al. (2016). Early human presence in the Arctic: Evidence from 45,000-year-old mammoth remains. Science. Lombard, M. & Phillipson, L. (2010). Indications of bow and stone-tipped arrow use 64 000 years ago in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Antiquity. Langley, M. C. et al. (2020). Bows and arrows and complex symbolic displays 48,000 years ago in the South Asian tropics. Science Advances. d'Errico, F. et al. (2012). Early evidence of San material culture represented by organic artifacts from Border Cave, South Africa. PNAS. Boldurian, A. T. & Cotter, J. L. (1999). Clovis Revisited: New Perspectives on Paleoindian Adaptations from Blackwater Draw, New Mexico. University of Pennsylvania Museum. Martin, P. S. (1973). The discovery of America. Science. Brink, J. W. (2008). Imagining Head-Smashed-In: Aboriginal Buffalo Hunting on the Northern Plains. AU Press. Liebenberg, L. (2006). Persistence hunting by modern hunter-gatherers. Current Anthropology. Bramble, D. M. & Lieberman, D. E. (2004). Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Nature. MUSIC "Investigations", "Journey To Ascend", "Marty Gots a Plan", "Night Cave", "Sneaky Snitch", "Desert City", "Dentaneosuchus Hunt", "Lotus", "Inspired" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... #history #ancienthistory #archaeology