Dissecting an elephant is a complex technological procedure demanding a high degree of skill and specialized equipment. As compensation for successfully completing this task, a rich source of protein is supplied, making this activity vital for ensuring food security.
The authors of the latest research assert that early inhabitants of Tanzania mastered the art of elephant butchery approximately 1.78 million years ago. Archaeological findings confirming this were located in the Olduvai Gorge and posted on the bioRxiv platform.
Professor Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo from Rice University notes that around 2 million years ago, early representatives of the genus Homo hunted smaller creatures, such as gazelles and waterbucks, but did not engage in hunting large mammals.
Later, remains of fauna and hominins dating from the period between 2 million and 17 thousand years ago were discovered in the Olduvai Gorge. Around 1.8 million years ago, the quantity of elephant and hippopotamus remains increased in the region. However, this is not direct proof that these animals were targets for human butchery, as the scholar emphasizes.
In June 2022, Professor Domínguez-Rodrigo and his colleagues unearthed site EAK (Emiliano Aguirre Korongo) in Olduvai, which was likely utilized for elephant processing. The site yielded a partial skeleton of the extinct elephant species Elephas recki and stone tools significantly larger than those previously used before 2 million years ago. In the scholar’s view, these implements were crafted by Homo erectus individuals.
The scholar clarifies that among the found instruments are Pleistocene knives possessing the same sharpness as in that era.
The professor and his peers presume that the unearthed stone implements were employed for elephant dissection. Some large limb bones were likely fractured soon after the animal’s demise, while they were still fresh. Scavengers, such as hyenas, might have gnawed flesh, but are incapable of crushing the shafts of adult elephant bones, as the researcher points out.
Bones bearing evidence of fresh fractures were also documented at the location, suggesting the use of stone hammers for breaking bones. Such green fractures are prevalent across the entire surveyed area, which is 1.7 million years old, and frequently show impact marks.
Nevertheless, the bones almost entirely lack scratches or cutting marks that would be left from slicing meat.
Professor Domínguez-Rodrigo observes that it remains unknown whether the animal was slain by humans or if they simply discovered the carcass. “We can only state that they butchered, or partially butchered, an elephant and left several tools near the bones,” the researcher concludes.
The professor believes the shift toward the practice of elephant processing is linked not only to the emergence of new tools but also to an increase in the hominin population, leading to social and cultural shifts.
Michael Pante from the University of Colorado expresses doubt regarding the persuasiveness of the presented evidence, pointing out that it relies solely on the proximity of implements and bones.
According to Pante, the earliest unambiguous proof of large animal butchery in Olduvai appears about 80 thousand years later, at site HWK EE, dated to 1.7 million years ago. “In contrast to EAK, the bones at HWK EE display cut marks and were found within an archaeological context alongside thousands of other bones and artifacts,” the scholar finished.
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