Most of us can only speculate about the things that happened in the past. For example, archaeologists used to think that early humans only hunted and killed mammoths if they were already hurt or trapped.
A recent discovery showed how early hunters may have actually herded and hunted mammoths.
About 14 woolly mammoth skeletons have been found in two pits in Mexico City. Experts suggest that these skeletons came from traps which were built 15,000 years ago by humans.
Mexico’s Institute of Anthropology and History’s researchers claim that it could be one of the first traps made by humans to catch the animals.
The pits were about 1.7 meters in depth and 25 meters in diameter. It contained over 800 mammoth bones.
Back then, there was very little evidence suggesting that humans intentionally planned attacks on mammoths.
According to Luis Cordoba Barradas, an archaeologist who works with the institute:
“It was thought they frightened them into getting stuck in swamps and then waited for them to die. This is evidence of direct attacks on mammoths. In Tultepec we can see there was the intention to hunt and make use of the mammoths.”
He also believed that the hunters could have grouped themselves in 20 to 30 and traveled with torches and branches. They used them as tools to force the mammoths into their traps.
This isn’t the first time mammoth bones were unearthed.
In 2012, a woolly mammoth was found in northern Russia. Its bones and tusks had cut marks which indicated that it was killed and slaughtered for food. Its preserved soft tissues, on the other hand, indicated that humans who hunted for these animals were carrying weapons and tools created from bones and stones.
A team of road workers was able to unearth the remains of a 130,000-year-old mammoth as well. With it are the remains of a woolly rhino.
The woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth went extinct 10,000 years ago. They were huge creatures which can grow up to 3.5 meters in height and about 6 to 8 tons in weight.
In theory, they are roughly about the same size as today’s African elephants.
Woolly mammoths were covered in fur which enabled them to adapt well to the cold environment. Their color varied from dark to light. Both of their ears and tails were short and that minimized heat loss as well as frostbite.
These animals had long and curved tusks which they used to manipulate things, fight enemies, and look for food. They ate mostly grasses. They also ate flowering plants, mosses, herbaceous plants, and shrubs as part of their diet.
Its believed that early humans used the bones of woolly mammoths to create art and make tools. Woolly mammoth ivory was used to make daggers, boomerangs, and spears. Some of their bones were turned into musical instruments and furniture as well.
The very first discovery of woolly mammoths happened in 1929 in Poland. Before that, the only evidence that they existed was cave paintings.
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