Around 13,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, early humans faced the daunting task of hunting massive creatures like mammoths, mastodons, and saber-toothed cats. The common belief was that these prehistoric hunters used intricately crafted stone-tipped spears, known as Clovis points, to ambush and take down these formidable animals.

However, new research from archaeologists at the University of California-Berkeley suggests that the real hunting strategy might have been quite different.

Instead of throwing spears, these early hunters likely used a technique involving planted pikes. The idea, proposed by Berkeley researchers, is that the hunters would plant the pointed end of their spears firmly in the ground and angle them upwards. When a charging animal collided with the spear, its own momentum would drive the weapon deeper into its body, delivering a more lethal blow than even the strongest human could manage alone.

Researchers used a replica spear to test how it would respond to different amounts of force.
Researchers used a replica spear to test how it would respond to different amounts of force. Credit: Scott Byram

This theory marks a significant departure from the traditional understanding of how Clovis points were used. Named after Clovis, New Mexico, where the first of these stone tools were discovered nearly a century ago, Clovis points are finely crafted from rocks like flint, chert, or jasper.

They vary in size, from about the size of a thumb to that of a medium-sized smartphone, and feature sharp edges and fluted bases. Thousands of these points have been found across the United States, with some even unearthed within the preserved remains of mammoths.

Despite their frequent appearance in popular culture, such as in the video game “Far Cry Primal” or the movie 10,000 B.C., these representations often oversimplify or romanticize the harsh realities of Ice Age hunting. According to Scott Byram, a researcher at Berkeley’s Archaeological Research Facility and lead author of a study on this topic published in PLOS ONE, these depictions don’t account for the complex and dangerous nature of hunting megafauna.

Clovis points are distinguishable due to their flute or channel flake scar near the base, as shown in these replicas.
Clovis points are distinguishable due to their flute or channel flake scar near the base, as shown in these replicas. Credit: Scott Byram

Byram and his team reviewed historical evidence of spear hunting from around the world and conducted the first experimental study focused on the use of planted pikes in hunting.

They discovered that when a sharp stone spearhead pierced the flesh of a charging animal and engaged its mounting system, it acted much like a modern hollow-point bullet, causing severe internal damage. This finding suggests that Clovis points were designed not just for throwing but as part of a sophisticated weapon system.

The study also highlights the importance of viewing these tools as part of a larger system. Often, only the stone points survive the test of time, while other components, like the wooden shafts and bone foreshafts, have decayed.

A high-speed photo sequence during a test after an 11.34 kg weight was dropped from 35 cm shows various moments as the stone point recedes into and splinters the pike shaft. Researchers said the way the stone point could have pierced animal flesh and the wood-and-bone shaft opened up suggests that the spear as a system functioned similar to a hollow-point bullet.
A high-speed photo sequence during a test after an 11.34 kg weight was dropped from 35 cm shows various moments as the stone point recedes into and splinters the pike shaft. Researchers said the way the stone point could have pierced animal flesh and the wood-and-bone shaft opened up suggests that the spear as a system functioned similar to a hollow-point bullet. Credit: Scott Byram

Jun Sunseri, an associate professor of anthropology at Berkeley and co-author of the study, emphasized the need to look beyond the artifacts themselves and consider the broader context in which they were used.

The Berkeley team plans to continue testing their hypothesis by constructing a mammoth replica to simulate how a planted pike would perform in a real hunting scenario.

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, Byram said. It opens up a whole new way of looking at how people lived among these incredible animals during much of human history.

SOURCES

Jason Pohl, To kill mammoths in the Ice Age, people used planted pikes, not throwing spears, researchers say (University of California-Berkeley)

Byram RS, Lightfoot KG, Sunseri JU (2024) Clovis points and foreshafts under braced weapon compression: Modeling Pleistocene megafauna encounters with a lithic pike. PLoS ONE 19(8): e0307996. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307996

  • Share on:

Discover more from LBV Magazine English Edition

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Follow LBV Magazine on Google News