https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2309427120
December 4, 2023


Significance
We have recently learned that around 125,000 years
ago, hunting of straight-tusked elephants, the largest
terrestrial mammals of the Pleistocene, was part of
the Neanderthal behavioral repertoire, for several
dozens of generations. This knowledge is based on
data from one lake-side location in northern Europe
only, and hence possibly of limited value for our
knowledge of the Neanderthal niche. This new study
presents data from two other, contemporaneous sites
on the North European plain, demonstrating that
elephant exploitation was a widespread phenomenon
there. The sheer quantities of food generated by the
butchering activities, aimed at extensive exploitation
of the carcasses, suggest that Neanderthals had some
form of food preservation and/or at least temporarily
operated in larger groups than commonly acknowledged.


Abstract
Neanderthals hunted and butchered straight-tusked
elephants, the largest terrestrial mammals of the
Pleistocene, in a lake landscape on the North European
plain, 125,000 years ago, as recently shown by a study
of the Last Interglacial elephant assemblage from
Neumark-Nord (Germany). With evidence for a
remarkable focus on adult males and on their extended
utilization, the data from this location are thus far
without parallel in the archaeological record. Given their
relevance for our knowledge of the Neanderthal niche,
we investigated whether the Neumark-Nord subsistence
practices were more than a local phenomenon, possibly
determined by local characteristics. Analyzing elephant
remains from two other Last Interglacial archaeological
sites on the North European plain, Gröbern and Taubach,
we identified in both assemblages similar butchering
patterns as at Neumark-Nord, demonstrating that
extended elephant exploitation was a widespread
Neanderthal practice during the (early part of the) Last
Interglacial. The substantial efforts needed to process
these animals, weighing up to 13 metric tons, and the
large amounts of food generated suggest that
Neanderthals either had ways of storing vast amounts of
meat and fat and/or temporarily aggregated in larger
groups than commonly acknowledged. The data do not
allow us to rule out one of the two explanations, and
furthermore both factors, short-term larger group sizes
as well as some form of food preservation, may have
played a role. What the data do show is that exploitation
of large straight-tusked elephants was a widespread and
recurring phenomenon amongst Last Interglacial
Neanderthals on the North European plain.

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