Long portrayed as a less sophisticated cousin of Homo sapiens, the image of Neanderthals has often been reduced to that of an ignorant caveman with less sophisticated tools.
However, in recent decades, research into Homo sapiens’ cousin has gradually corrected this picture. Initial information about his hunting practices in the 1970s and 1980s initially portrayed him as an opportunist, but the development of the study of bone loss through taphonomy in the 1990s quickly corrected these assumptions.
“Initially, archaeologists mainly found teeth and feet of prey animals in places where they lived. [de Néandertal] “, explains Britt Starkovich, archaeologist at the University of Tübingen. “But thanks to taphonomy, we understood that there is much more going on there […], and we finally realized that Neanderthals were actually excellent hunters. »
The discovery of more and more sites then made it possible to demonstrate this hunting ability and achieve excellent results. Nevertheless, it took several years for public perception to separate him from his caveman image.
“Any discovery at a site that provides evidence that Neanderthals were capable of hunting is always presented as an extraordinary discovery, as if Neanderthals were incapable of it,” describes Starkovich. “But for many researchers this is not surprising. […] It’s more about finding out what they had to hunt to satisfy their needs. Neanderthals seemed to hunt large prey whenever it was available. […] These are much more advantageous in terms of the amount of food for the effort put in. »
In addition to their hunting skills, many questions are raised about the nature and structure of Neanderthal social groups. These include the problem of preserving such a large quantity of meat in a climate similar to that of a tropical zone.
“Hunting and eating all this meat makes us think that Neanderthals moved in much larger groups than we originally thought,” Gaudzinski-Windheuser continues. “It wasn’t cold enough to rely on permafrost, but we think they ate up a lot of it very quickly, perhaps in celebration, and may have resorted to other preservation techniques.” […] such as drying or preserving in water. »
“We have long believed that Neanderthals lived in small, isolated groups, but an elephant would have been far too complex a prey for such a community to capture,” Kindler adds. “They wouldn’t have been able to master hunting techniques and wouldn’t have needed to hunt elephants anyway. […] However, if they had gathered in larger groups, even at regular intervals, they could have used such techniques and would have been numerous enough to eat all the meat. »