Early humans used an interesting technique to hunt big animals

Researchers have a new theory to explain how early humans might have used sharpened Clovis points to hunt megafauna, like mammoths and mastodons, around 13,000 years ago. 

Instead of throwing spears or jabbing at these massive creatures, the researchers suggest that early humans used a less hands-on strategy to hunt. They braced the spear’s butt against the ground, angling the weapon upward to impale charging animals. 

The immense force of the animal’s movement would drive the spear deeper into its body, creating a devastating wound – more severe than what even the strongest prehistoric hunters could inflict on their own.

Hunting with planted spears 

Drawing from various historical writings and artwork, the archaeologists examined evidence from around the world about hunting with planted spears. 

The experts also conducted the first experimental study focusing on how stone weapons like Clovis points might react to the force of an approaching animal when used in a pike hunting technique. 

The results revealed that once the sharp rock penetrated the flesh, the spear’s engineered mounting system activated, making the spear tip behave like a modern hollow-point bullet, causing serious damage to creatures such as mastodons, bison, and saber-toothed cats.

Study lead author Scott Byram is an expert in the Archaeological Research Facility at UC Berkeley. 

“This ancient Native American design was an amazing innovation in hunting strategies,” said Byram. “This distinctive Indigenous technology is providing a window into hunting and survival techniques used for millennia throughout much of the world.”

Clovis points used by early humans to hunt

The study sheds light on the longstanding debate among archaeologists about how North American communities used Clovis points, some of the most commonly found Ice Age artifacts. 

Named after Clovis, New Mexico, where the first of these stone tools were discovered nearly a century ago, Clovis points were crafted from rocks like chert, flint, or jasper. 

These tools range in size from a person’s thumb to a midsize smartphone, featuring a razor-sharp edge and fluted indentations on both sides of their base. Thousands have been recovered across the U.S., with some even found within preserved mammoth skeletons.

Early humans used a complex system to hunt

Popular culture has often depicted Clovis points as the tips of thrown spears used in hunting, as seen in video games like Far Cry Primal and movies like 10,000 B.C. However, these depictions likely oversimplify the realities of life during the Ice Age. 

According to Byram and his co-author, Jun Sunseri, a Berkeley associate professor of anthropology, Clovis points were likely part of a more complex hunting system.

The team posits that this system also involved bone shafts, wooden spear bases, and bindings made of pine pitch and lacing – all elements that have not survived the passage of time.

“You have to look beyond the simple artifact,” Jun noted. “One of the things that’s key here is that we’re looking at this as an engineered system that requires multiple kinds of sub-specialties within our field and other fields.”

Preserving the valuable spears

Given the scarcity of suitable materials for tool-making in some regions, it would make sense that early humans were cautious about risking their valuable spears during the hunt. 

Byram, who has explored the historical context of planted pike hunting through various archival records, suggests that these communities likely wouldn’t have thrown their tools recklessly.

“People who are doing metal military artifact analysis know all about it because it was used for stopping horses in warfare,” Byram said. 

“But prior to that, and in other contexts with boar hunting or bear hunting, it wasn’t very well known. It’s a theme that comes back in literature quite a bit. But for whatever reason, it hasn’t been talked about too much in anthropology.”

Testing the pike hunting theory

To test their pike hunting hypothesis, the Berkeley team constructed a test platform to measure the force that a spear system could withstand before breaking. 

Their low-tech, static simulation of an animal attack with a braced Clovis point spear demonstrated how the spear system responded under stress, mimicking the energy generated by a charging animal.

“The kind of energy that you can generate with the human arm is nothing like the kind of energy generated by a charging animal. It’s an order of magnitude different,” Jun said. “These spears were engineered to do what they’re doing to protect the user.”

Clovis points and traditional spears

Byram had pondered this idea for decades, recalling his graduate school days when he crafted replica Clovis points and traditional spears.

The time and effort invested in these tools led him to consider their potential uses beyond what had been previously assumed.

“It just started to make sense to me that it actually had a different purpose than some of the other tools,” Byram said. “Unlike some of the notched arrowheads, it was a more substantial weapon. And it was probably also used defensively.”

Conversations between Jun, Byram, and Kent Lightfoot, a Berkeley anthropology professor emeritus, during the early days of the pandemic sparked renewed interest in exploring this theory. 

Sophisticated engineering behind Clovis points 

Lightfoot, who also contributed to the study, emphasized the sophisticated engineering behind Clovis technology, noting its importance in understanding how early Indigenous people coexisted with now-extinct megafauna.

“The sophisticated Clovis technology that developed independently in North America is testimony to the ingenuity and skills that early Indigenous people employed in their cohabitation of the ancient landscape with now-extinct megafauna,” Lightfoot said.

In the coming months, the team plans to further test their theory by constructing a replica mammoth and simulating what a pike attack might have looked like as it impacted a massive, fast-moving mammal.

“Sometimes in archaeology, the pieces just start fitting together like they seem to now with Clovis technology, and this puts pike hunting front and center with extinct megafauna. It opens up a whole new way of looking at how people lived among these incredible animals during much of human history,” Byram concluded.

The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

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