EARLY HUMANS WIPED OUT GIANT ELEPHANTS AND OTHER MEGAFAUNA

Human capacity for destruction started early on, even before Neanderthals. 

 

Excavations in Kent, England, have revealed deposits containing elephant remains along with the tools of slaughter.  

 

Researchers also found other species now extinct from the area dating from around 420,000 years ago.

 

The pre-historic elephant was twice the size of today's African variety and up to four times the weight of family car.

 

Although there is no direct evidence of how this particular animal met its end, the discovery of flint tools close to the carcass confirm butchery for its meat, probably by a group of at least four individuals. 

 

Research by University of Southampton archaeologist Dr Francis Wenban-Smith suggests that early humans, who lived thousands of years before Neanderthals, were able to work together in groups to hunt and slaughter animals as large as the prehistoric elephant.

 

The site revealed  a deep sequence of deposits containing the elephant remains, along with numerous flint tools and a range of other species such as wild aurochs, extinct forms of rhinoceros and lion, Barbary macaque, beaver, rabbit, various forms of vole and shrew, and a diverse assemblage of snails. 

 

Read more - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130919085710.htm

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RELATED

Prehistoric man's destruction of megafauna -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9162107/Human-hunting-caused-extinction-of-megafauna.html


David Attemborough:  Humans are a plague -

http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/09/david-attemborough-humans-are-plague.html
 
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/09/david-attemborough-says-humans-are.html

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