SStocky build, receding forehead and pronounced bony ridges above the eyes: With this profile, the Neanderthal does not exactly correspond to our ideal of beauty. However, the prejudice that these are scientifically homo neanderthalensis said human species was a bit stupid. After all, the Neanderthals were up to the diverse challenges of the Ice Age, and archaeological finds show that they were skilled hunters. For example, he hunted reindeer and wild horses during the cold periods, and deer and aurochs during the warmer periods.
Whether the European forest elephant (Palaeoloxodon ancient) – in this country only native to the almost Mediterranean ambience of the interglacial periods – also belonged to the usual range of prey, was previously disputed. Flint tools have occasionally been found near elephant skeletons. But it is possible that the Neanderthals did not kill the animal themselves, but simply cut off a few portions of meat from an elephant that was found dead. Eventually, the European forest elephant could reach a shoulder height of four meters. This made it the most imposing mammal to roam the land during the Ice Age. Weighing up to 13 tons, it was about twice as massive as the African elephant, today the largest land animal.
Fossil finds from opencast mining
Recently, however, a German-Dutch research group was able to prove that Neanderthals had actually regularly hunted and cannibalized such giants around 125,000 years ago. The fossil finds examined come from the former brown coal opencast mine Mücheln, about ten kilometers south of Halle: while the glaciers of the Saale glaciation retreated, lakes were formed there in which sediments could be deposited. When the next cold period began, the climate became drier again. Now the wind could kick up a lot of dust, which quickly covered the former lake landscape. Under this loess layer, fossil remains from the approximately 10,000-year-long Eem interglacial period (approximately 126,000 to 116,000 years ago) have been well preserved.
Deep cut marks on the heel bone of a forest elephant
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Image: Wil Roebroeks/Leiden University
Archaeologists have repeatedly come across traces left by Neanderthals on the shores of lakes in the lignite opencast mine. In addition to charcoal and worked flint, large quantities of bones were found, mainly from horses, deer and oxen. While lignite was still being excavated, the remains of numerous European forest elephants came to light, partly in the form of almost complete skeletons, partly as ensembles of bones from one or more animals. It was noticeable that the specimens were mostly male and very old at more than 20 years of age. About 40 percent were more than 40 years old, some even more than 50.