The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. What does it check? That Neanderthals hunted cave lions and used the skin of this dangerous carnivore. The excavations were carried out in the Harz Mountains (Lower Saxony, Germany). They discovered abundant Ice Age animals, including some bones of the extinct cave lion.
The bones appeared in a cave gallery in a layer dating back more than 200,000 years. There, a toe bone with a cut mark was detected among the remains of a cave lion. This led the team to determine that Neanderthals removed the lion’s skin with their claws attached. They used the skin for their own purposes.
huge lions
Lead author Gabriele Russo of the University of Tübingen analyzed the remains of a cave lion. He identified damage to his ribs from the impact of a weapon. He said in a statement: “The rib injury clearly differs from carnivore bite marks. It shows the typical breakage pattern of an injury caused by a hunting weapon. He was probably killed with a spear stuck in the lion’s abdomen when he was already on the ground.
The 50,000-year-old skeleton proves that Neanderthals hunted cave lions. The cut marks also show that they not only killed this predator. They also consumed their meat. The cave lion had a shoulder height of around 1.3 meters. For about 200,000 years, the cave lion was the most dangerous animal in Eurasia. It became extinct at the end of the Ice Age. They hunted mammoths, bison and horses, as well as cave bears.
in art
Cave lions appear on rock art panels at Grotte Chauvet in southeastern France. They are about 34,000 years old. The new results show that cave lions also had special meaning for Neanderthals. «Humans’ interest in gaining respect and power from a lion trophy has its roots in Neanderthal behavior. Until modern times the lion is a powerful symbol of rulers.
The ability of Neanderthals to produce symbols and communicate with them has already been demonstrated. The role of cave lions fits with evidence of more complex Neanderthal behaviors.
