Early Humans and Elephants: A Surprising Relationship

Elephants are cherished by many today, but a new study indicates that early humans engaged in the hunting of elephants nearly two million years ago, primarily for survival.

This spring, researchers published an article in the journal eLife that uncovers what they claim to be “the earliest direct evidence of proboscis slaughter.” It includes the identification of a site where early humans apparently hunted elephants.

The study highlights how modern elephants are the last survivors of a once-diverse group that included woolly mammoths and mastodons. Interestingly, the remains discovered at the site belonged to an extinct species, known as Elephas lekki.

Focusing on the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania’s Serengeti Plain—famous for numerous early human fossil finds—the excavation revealed stone tools near ancient elephant bones. Archaeologists and paleoanthropologists involved in the study suggest these bones likely came from elephants that were systematically killed by early human ancestors.

The analysis indicates that these bones date back to roughly 1.8 million years ago, during the early Pleistocene era.

While there’s evidence that later humans hunted large animals, this discovery points to a more organized method of processing elephant carcasses by early humans.

“The food surplus created by the exploitation of some of these animals would have been a major advantage.”

Additionally, the study mentions that the ability of early humans to butcher large creatures represents a distinct evolutionary path without a modern equivalent.

According to the findings, early humans appear to have adapted strategically to the availability of megafauna, moving beyond mere scavenging. This shift might have significantly impacted their survival and social structures.

The implications are significant: meat from sizable animals like elephants likely served as a crucial food source for these early populations.

“The food surplus created by the exploitation of some of these animals would have been a major advantage for the survival and adaptation of hominin populations,” the researchers conclude.

There’s ongoing research that continues to shed light on human diets, from ancient times to our early ancestors. For example, recent archaeological work in Pompeii unveiled preserved food remains that provide insight into what people consumed before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.