11.6. Who the Olduvians hunted Around residential areas in Olduvai, fossilized remains of giraffes, various antelopes and a tooth of Deinotherium, an extinct elephant, were found. The Olduvians ate plentifully and may have preferred to dine outside rather than in a shelter that had nowhere to go.

"Journey to the Stone Age"

Charity wall newspaper for schoolchildren, parents and teachers "Briefly and clearly about the most interesting." Issue 90, February 2016.

Wall newspapers of the charitable educational project "Briefly and clearly about the most interesting" (site site) are intended for schoolchildren, parents and teachers of St. Petersburg. They ship for free to most educational institutions, as well as to a number of hospitals, orphanages and other institutions of the city. The publications of the project do not contain any advertising (only logos of the founders), politically and religiously neutral, written in easy language, well illustrated. They are conceived as an information "slowdown" of students, awakening cognitive activity and desire to read. Authors and publishers, without claiming to be academically complete in the presentation of the material, publish Interesting Facts, illustrations, interviews with well-known figures of science and culture and hope thereby to increase the interest of schoolchildren in educational process. Please send comments and suggestions to: [email protected]..

We thank the Department of Education of the Administration of the Kirovsky District of St. Petersburg and everyone who selflessly helps in distributing our wall newspapers. The material of this issue was prepared especially for our project by the employees of the Kostenki Museum-Reserve (authors: Chief Researcher Irina Kotlyarova and Senior Researcher Marina Pushkareva-Lavrentieva). To them is our sincere gratitude.

Dear friends! Our newspaper has more than once accompanied its readers on a "journey to the Stone Age". In this issue, we traced the path that our ancestors took before becoming like you and me. In the issue, they “disassembled the bones” of the misconceptions that have developed around the most interesting topic of the origin of man. In the issue, they discussed the "real estate" of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. In the issue, we studied mammoths and got acquainted with the unique exhibits of the Zoological Museum. This issue of our wall newspaper was prepared by a team of authors of the Kostenki Museum-Reserve - the "Pearl of the Paleolithic", as archaeologists call it. Thanks to the finds made here, in the Don valley south of Voronezh, our modern idea of ​​the "Stone Age" was largely created.

What is "paleolithic"?

"Kostenki in the past and present". Drawing by Inna Elnikova.

Panorama of the Don valley in Kostenki.

Map of Stone Age sites in Kostenki.

Excavations at the Kostenki 11 site in 1960.

Excavations at the Kostenki 11 site in 2015.

Portrait reconstruction of a man from the Kostenki 2 site. Author M.M. Gerasimov. (donsmaps.com).

A dwelling made of mammoth bones in the museum's exposition.

Currently, many monuments of that era have been discovered all over the world, but one of the most striking and significant are Kostenki, located in the Voronezh region. Archaeologists have long called this monument the "Pearl of the Paleolithic". Now the Kostenki Museum-Reserve has been created here, which is located on the right bank of the Don River and covers an area of ​​about 9 hectares. Scientists have been conducting research on this monument since 1879. Since that time, about 60 ancient sites have been discovered here, belonging to a huge chronological period - from 45 to 18 thousand years ago.

The people who lived then in Kostenki belonged to the same biological species as the modern ones - Homo sapiens sapiens. During this time, humanity has managed to go a grandiose path from small groups of the first Europeans, who had just begun to explore a new continent, to highly developed societies of “mammoth hunters”.

The finds of that era showed that people not only managed to survive in the extreme conditions of the periglacial zone, but also created an expressive culture: they were able to build fairly complex residential buildings, make various stone tools and create amazing artistic images. Thanks to the finds in Kostenki, our modern idea of ​​the Stone Age was largely created.

A real fragment of that era - the remains of a dwelling made of mammoth bones, inside which stone and bone tools were found - was conserved under the roof of the museum in Kostenki. This piece, preserved through the efforts of archaeologists and museum workers, ancient life will help us uncover some of the secrets of the Stone Age.

The nature of the ice age

Location map of sites of the era of the maximum Valdai glaciation.

Sedge low - "mammoth grass".

"Landscape of the Ice Age in Kostenki". Figure N.V. Garutt.

Mammoths in the Don Valley. Figure I.A. Nakonechnaya.

Skeleton drawing of Adams' mammoth (Zoological Museum). Found in 1799 in the delta of the Lena River. The age of the find is 36 thousand years.

Taxidermy sculpture of a mammoth in the museum.

"Mammoth Kostik". Drawing by Anya Pevgova.

"Mammoth Styopa". Drawing by Veronica Terekhova.

"Mammoth Hunt". Drawing by Polina Zemtsova.

Mammoth John. Drawing by Kirill Blagodir.

The time to which the main exhibit of the museum belongs - a dwelling made of mammoth bones, can be called the most severe in the last 50 thousand years. Almost the entire north of Europe was covered by a powerful ice sheet, due to which geographic map continent looked a little different than now. Total length glacier was about 12 thousand kilometers, and 9.5 thousand kilometers fell on the territory of the northern part of the modern Russian Federation. The southern border of the glacier passed along the Valdai Upland, because of which this glaciation got its name - Valdai.

The conditions of the periglacial steppes were very different from the modern conditions of the same latitudes. If now the climate of our Earth is characterized by a change of seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter, each of which is distinguished by special weather conditions, then 20 thousand years ago, most likely, there were two seasons. The warm time was rather short and cool, and the winter was long and very cold - the temperature could drop to 40-45º below zero. In winter, anticyclones lingered over the Don valley for a long time, which provided clear, cloudless weather. The soil did not thaw much even in summer, and the soil remained frozen throughout the year. There was little snow, so the animals could get their own food without much difficulty.

At that time, on the territory of Kostenki there was a completely different zone of vegetation distribution than now. Then it was meadow steppes, combined with rare birch and pine forests. In the river valleys, well protected from the wind and moistened, currants, cornflowers, and touchy grew. It was in the river valleys that small forests were hidden, protected by the slopes of the riverine hills.

One of the plants of the Ice Age has successfully survived to this day - this is a low sedge, which is colloquially called "mammoth grass", since it was a contemporary of this animal. Currently, this unpretentious plant can also be found on the slopes of the Kostenkovo ​​hills.

The animal world of that time was also very different from the modern one. On the Kostenkovka hills and in the river valley one could see herds of primitive bison, reindeer, musk oxen, Pleistocene horses. The permanent inhabitants of these places were also wolves, hares, arctic foxes, polar owls and partridges. One of the remarkable differences between the animals of the Ice Age and modern ones was their large size. Harsh natural conditions forced animals to acquire powerful fur, fat and a large skeleton to survive.

The "king" of the animal world of that time was the majestic giant - the mammoth, the largest land mammal ice age. It was in his honor that the entire fauna of that time began to be called "mammoth".

Mammoths were well adapted to dry, cold climates. These animals were dressed in a warm skin, even the trunk was overgrown with wool, and its ears were ten times smaller in area than those of an African elephant. Mammoths grew up to 3.5-4.5 meters in height, and their weight could be 5-7 tons.

The dental apparatus consisted of six teeth: two tusks and four molars. The tusks were the most characteristic outward sign these animals, especially the males. The weight of the tusk of a large hardened male averaged 100-150 kilograms and had a length of 3.5-4 meters. The tusks were used by animals to peel twigs and tree bark, as well as to break ice to get to the water. The molars, located two on the upper and lower jaws, had a grooved surface that helped grind coarse plant foods.

Mammoths could eat from 100 to 200 kilograms per day plant food. In summer, the animals fed mainly on grass (meadow grasses, sedges), end shoots of shrubs (willows, birches, alders). From constant chewing, the surface of the mammoth's teeth was very much erased, which is why they changed throughout his life. In total, he had six changes of teeth in his life. After the last four teeth fell out, the animal died of old age. Mammoths lived for about 80 years.

These giants disappeared forever from the face of the Earth due to climate change that occurred after the melting of the glacier. Animals began to bog down in numerous swamps and overheat under thick shaggy hair. However, most species mammoth fauna did not die, but gradually adapted to the changed natural conditions, and some of the animals of that time have safely survived to this day.

Life and occupations of the people of the Stone Age

Scheme of a dwelling with five storage pits. Parking Kostenki 11.

Ancient hunters. Reconstruction by I.A. Nakonechnaya.

The flint tip of a spear or dart. Age - about 28 thousand years.

"The warmth of the hearth." Reconstruction of the dwelling at Kostenki 11 by Nikita Smorodinov.

Work as a wood cutter. Reconstruction.

Scraping a fox skin with a scraper. Reconstruction.

Decorating leather clothes with bone beads. Reconstruction.

Making clothes. Reconstruction by I.A. Nakonechnaya.

Marl animal figurines. Age - 22 thousand years.

Female figurine with decorations.

Schematic representation of a mammoth. Age - 22 thousand years.

Panorama of the museum in the Anosov log of the village of Kostenki.

Some archaeologists believe that mammoths could have disappeared due to the constant hunting of them by primitive people. In fact, in the Kostenok sites of that time, they find great amount mammoth bones: only to create one ancient house, people used about 600 bones of this animal! Therefore, people who lived in Kostenki at that time are called "mammoth hunters." And, indeed, the mammoth was a very attractive prey for the people of that time. After all, a successful hunt for him gave almost everything necessary for life: a mountain of meat, which for a long time allowed you to forget about hunting; bones that were used to build houses; skins for insulation of dwellings; fat for indoor lighting; tusks, which were used to make various handicrafts.

Paleolithic man was attached to herds of mammoths: people followed the animals and were always in close proximity to them. They also learned how to defeat this giant beast with the help of battue hunting. It is believed that mammoths were very shy animals and, having heard the sudden cries of hunters who deliberately drove them to the edge of the cliff, they turned into a stampede and fell into a natural trap. A mammoth rolling down a steep hillside broke its limbs, and sometimes its spine, so it was not difficult for hunters to finish off the animal. To hunt mammoths, Stone Age people used spears and darts, the tips of which were made of flint, a stone with sharp cutting edges.

Thanks to the successful hunting of mammoths, people could linger in one place for a long time and live relatively settled. With severe weather conditions it was difficult for a person to survive without a warm, comfortable home, so they had to learn how to build them from improvised material - mammoth bones, earth, wooden sticks and poles, animal skins.

In Kostenki, archaeologists distinguish five types of residential buildings, which differ from each other in shape and size. One of them is preserved in the museum building. It is a round house with a diameter of 9 meters with a foundation-basement 60 centimeters high, made of mammoth bones and soil that holds them together. 16 mammoth skulls were dug in at equal distances from each other along the entire perimeter of the wall-socle, in order to then fix poles in them, forming both the wall of the house and at the same time its roof. The skin of a mammoth was not suitable for sheltering a dwelling, as it was too heavy, so our ancestors chose lighter skins - for example, reindeer.

Inside the house there was a hearth, around which, once in the Stone Age, the whole family gathered to have a meal and ordinary family conversations. They slept right there not far from the hearth on warm animal skins spread on the floor. Apparently, the house also housed a workshop for the manufacture of stone tools - on one square meter dwellings, more than 900 fragments of small flakes and flint flakes were found. The list of tools of that time is very small: these are cutters, scrapers, points, piercings, knives, tips, needles. But with their help, people performed all the necessary operations: they sewed clothes, butchered meat, cut bone and tusk, hunted animals.

Around the ancient house, archaeologists discovered 5 storage pits that were filled with mammoth bones. Considering the harsh climate and the annual freezing of the ground, the scientists concluded that these pits were used as refrigerators for storing food supplies. At present, exactly the same storage pits are being built by some peoples of the Far North.

During the Ice Age, people worked tirelessly. Men hunted, brought prey to the house, protected their family. Women in the stone age played important role- they were in charge of the household: they guarded the hearth in the house, cooked food, sewed clothes from animal skins. In order to simply survive in the extreme conditions of the periglacial zone, people had to constantly work.

However, the finds of that era showed that people not only knew how to build quite complex dwellings and make various stone tools, but also create amazing artistic images. A real work of art and one of the most striking finds are animal figurines made by an ancient master from dense limestone - marl. All of them depict a herd of mammoths. Moreover, in this herd one can distinguish large and medium-sized individuals, as well as a small mammoth. What were these figurines for? There are several answers to this question. One of the options suggests that it could be some forgotten game like modern checkers. Another is that these were primitive abacuses for counting the number of mammoths. And finally, it could just be children's toys.

The symbol of female beauty, motherhood and the continuation of life were the so-called "Upper Paleolithic Venus". In Kostenki, archaeologists have found a whole series of small female figurines. All these figures are very similar: a head bowed down, a huge belly and a chest filled with milk, instead of a face, as a rule, a smooth surface. These are ancient symbols of procreation. One of them was wearing a lot of jewelry: a necklace on her chest and a belt-necklace over her chest, small bracelets on her elbows and wrists. All these are ancient amulets that are designed to "protect" their owner from many problems.

one more mysterious work Ice Age art is a drawing made by an ancient artist on slate. This image was also found by archaeologists in Kostenki. Having carefully examined the drawing, one can easily guess the characteristic silhouette of a mammoth: high withers, a strongly lowered backside, small ears ... But the ladder standing next to the animal makes one wonder: were mammoths really domesticated? Or does this drawing reproduce the moment of butchering the carcass of a defeated animal?

Despite the long-term and painstaking work of archaeologists trying to open the veil over the secrets of the Ice Age, a lot remains unclear. Maybe you, dear friend, will become the one who can make an incredible discovery, participate in archaeological excavations and make a unique find. In the meantime, we invite you to the Kostenki Museum-Reserve so that you can see with your own eyes the ancient house made of mammoth bones and learn more about the Stone Age.

Kostenki is one of the oldest known settlements of modern man in Europe.

Chief Researcher Irina Kotlyarova and Senior Researcher Marina Pushkareva-Lavrentieva. Museum-reserve "Kostenki".

We are waiting for your feedback, our dear readers! And thank you for being with us.

Mammoths and Bipeds

Winter. Long gone times of glaciation of the highlands of the North-East of Yakutia. The flat, in some places slightly hilly plain is covered with white snow. The dazzlingly bright rays of the sun play with multi-colored sparks on this snowy white silence. In a light breeze, the yellow heads of sparse cereals, protruding from under the snow, quietly sway. In the distance, a noticeably arched outline long lake- old people. At its bend, a herd of mammoths quietly grazes. Each of them is the size of a huge cart or haystack placed on four thick chocks. But among them there is also a very playful, mobile young growth of much smaller sizes. Not inferior in size to modern big bulls, "kids" start amusing offensive-retreat games and run around majestic relatives.

The surroundings are quiet and calm. The giants of these expanses, deftly wielding their huge tusks, rake the snow, chew withered grass and coarse shrub vegetation extracted from under the snow with their powerful jaws.

But the silence is snowy plain and the inviolable peace of the mighty mammoths turned out to be deceptive. Behind them patiently and hidden wise and insidious two-legged creatures - people - watched. The hunters dressed in animal skins suddenly jumped out from behind the hillocks with deafening cries. The leader of the mammoths let out an alarming roar and led his herd away from people - to the lake. The cunning trick of the hunters worked: the animals ran towards their certain death. As soon as they began to cross the lake covered with ice and snow, terrible cracks snaked under their feet. Crazed beasts instinctively gathered in a dense crowd. Half a meter of ice could not withstand the weight of the animals accumulated in one place, and the entire herd of mammoths ended up in deep icy water. Mighty animals in mortal horror began to crush each other, floundering in the water, turning multi-ton blocks of ice like light toys. Weak animals were under water, and strong animals furiously beat the ice edge with flexible trunks and strong tusks. But soon their strength dried up. A whole herd of mammoths perished without exception and became the prey of savvy hunters of the Stone Age. The latter began to perform an unimaginably energetic ritual dance of good luck...

According to competent experts, the life of the tribes of the Stone Age largely depended on the production of large animals. By hunting only small game, they could not provide for all the needs of their existence. The people of the Stone Age, having no tools for hunting large animals, nevertheless knew the “Achilles heel” of such herd and heavy animals as mammoths. They excellently mastered the method of hunting mammoths and their companions (woolly rhinos, bison, wild horses) by driving through the ice.

modern people Huge accumulations of bones surprise - cemeteries of the most uneven-aged mammoths. Scientists put forward various versions of the solution to this mystery. Very valuable finds often appear on the table of specialists - shreds of red, dark gray or black wool, bones with dried tendons. Occasionally, scientists get whole skeletons and the remains of the corpses of mammoths, rhinos, fossil bison and horses. Researchers study stone or bone arrowheads and spears of Stone Age hunters, argue about hunting methods and techniques, and are surprised by the ability of primitive people to survive in extreme icing conditions.

Starting from the Stone Age, mankind has passed through the Bronze and Iron Ages.

In the history of mankind, the Stone Age is estimated at approximately two million years or a little more. Then people coexisted first with ancient elephants, then with mammoths and other giants who lived during the Quaternary glaciation.

According to the studies of P. Wood, L. Vachek and others (1972), 400-500 thousand years ago in the European part of the world people hunted ancient elephants. On the territory of Yakutia (including the primitive people of Deering-Yuryakh), hunting tribes appeared about 35 thousand years ago. They until the complete disappearance of mammoths from the face of the earth, at least, hunted for them for at least 250 centuries. IN glacial period in search of prey, these tribes spread to North America.

Did humans kill mammoths?

Scholars have long agreed by default that modern man- the main enemy of all life on Earth. As it turns out, it's hereditary. According to the American archaeologist Tod Sorovil, it was people who made a decisive contribution to the disappearance of mammoths from our planet.

Until now, it was believed that ancient mammals became extinct as a result of abrupt change climate that occurred from 50 to 100 thousand years ago. Then two-thirds of the animals died. Meanwhile, according to Sorovil, natural disasters played only a minor role in this. The scientist made his shocking conclusions on the basis of a study of 41 areas in which the bones of the ancestors of elephants were found. Comparing these places, he discovered a curious pattern: mammoths died out much faster where nearby were the sites of ancient people. In those areas where people did not have time to settle, the natural death of mammoths occurred much later.

Despite the absence in those time immemorial greenhouse effect and ozone holes, people, it turns out, did a good job and at no cost National economy. Although there was no world fur market then, mammoth skins were in great demand - apparently, this was the main attire of our prehistoric ancestors. Yes, and mammoth meat was perhaps the main delicacy. Moreover, they had to get all this on their own - active hunting led, as a result, to the complete destruction of the "furry elephants".

http://www.utro.ru/articles/2005/04/12/427979.shtml

American scientists inflicted a crushing defeat on scientific opponents studying the reasons for the disappearance of mammoths from the face of the Earth, pointing out the absurdity of the assumption that they fell victim to the gastronomic intemperance of our ancestors. IN last years the unfortunate fact of the discovery of an extremely small number of complete skeletons of these fossil animals was explained by the fact that most of them fell under the primitive carving knife. Other hypotheses, such as an ecological catastrophe or a deadly epidemic, were rejected as untenable.

But the Americans rehabilitated their ancestors. On international conference in Hot Springs, an explorer with the strikingly appropriate surname Firestone declared that it was not animal disease or human gluttony that killed the mammoths. They ceased to exist as a result of the activity of a supernova, which brought down a hail of radioactive meteorites on Earth.

Until now, speaking about the disappearance of mammoths, scientists agreed on one thing - they completely died out 11-13 thousand years ago; everything else was just speculation. Richard Firestone voiced his. Approximately 41 thousand years ago, a supernova appeared at a distance of 250 light years from Earth. First, cosmic radiation reached our planet, followed by a stream of ice particles that began to bombard mammoth habitats.

The Americans even found traces of this radiation, for which they had to go to Iceland and delve into marine sediments. After digging to the right layers, they found an unusually high concentration of carbon C-14, which was explained by the influence of radiation from that very ill-fated supernova. And in the layers corresponding to the period of the untimely death of mammoths, radioactive pieces of ice were found.

It should be noted that Mr. Firestone was so kind that he did not completely break all other hypotheses about the causes of the death of mammoths. With full confidence, he declared that only the inhabitants of North America fell from cosmic influence. However geographical position Iceland, namely: its equidistance from the North American continent and Eurasia, still leaves no reason to blame excessively voracious primitive people for the death of mammoths.

Teenagers who have read books about the life of primitive people are sure that there are no secrets in this hunt. Everything is simple. Bristling with spears, the savages surround the huge mammoth and deal with it. Until recently, many archaeologists were convinced of this. However, new discoveries, as well as an analysis of previous findings, force us to rethink the usual truths. So, archaeologists from the Institute of Primitive and early history at the University of Cologne, they studied 46 Neanderthal sites and hunting grounds in Germany, examined thousands of animal bones found here. Their conclusion is clear. Ancient hunters were very prudent people. They weighed all the consequences of their actions, and therefore were in no hurry to rush to the huge beast. They deliberately chose prey of a certain type, and attacked individuals weighing less than a ton. The list of their trophies includes wild horses, deer, steppe bison. At least, this was the case 40-60 thousand years ago (this is the age of the studied finds). But not only the choice of the victim was important. Primitive people did not wander aimlessly through the forests and dales in the hope that they would be lucky. No, hunting became for them something like a military operation, which had to be carefully prepared. It was necessary, for example, to find a place in the forest or steppe where it would be possible to strike at the enemy with the least losses for themselves. The real find for the “lovitva commanders” was the steep banks of the rivers. Here the earth suddenly left from under the feet of the intended victim. The invisible spirits of the rivers seemed to be ready to help people who came here in everything. It was possible to hide near a watering place and, jumping out of an ambush, finish off the gaping animals. Or wait near the ford. Here, stretching out in a chain, the animals one by one, carefully probing the bottom, move to the other side. Move slowly, cautiously. At these moments, they are very vulnerable, which both the Cro-Magnons and the Neanderthals, who collected their bloody catch, knew well. The cunning and prudence of the ancient hunters can be easily explained by their weakness. Their opponents were animals that sometimes weighed ten times more than they did. And he had to fight in close combat, staying close to the beast, furious with pain and fear. Indeed, before the invention of the bow, primitive man had to get close to the prey. Spear blows were delivered from fifteen meters, no further. They beat the beast with a pike and did it from three meters. So, if the operation “Word” or “Waterhole” was planned, the fighters had to hide somewhere behind the bushes, near the water, in order to reduce the distance separating from the beast to the limit with one jump. Endurance and precision meant life here. Haste and slip - death. Throwing yourself like a bayonet attack with a pointed stick at an adult mammoth is like death. And people hunted to still survive. The myth of the brave men who, with a spear in their hand, blocked the path of ancient elephants, was born immediately after the Second World War. It didn't come out of nowhere. In the spring of 1948 in the town of Lehringen, in Lower Saxony, during construction works the skeleton of a forest elephant was discovered, which died 90 thousand years ago. Between the ribs of the animal lay a spear, assured the amateur archaeologist Alexander Rozenshtok, who was the first to examine the find. This spear, broken into eleven pieces, has since been considered the main argument of those who portrayed the insane courage of primitive people. But did that memorable hunt take place? A recent study disproved the obvious findings. In that remote era, the place where the remains of the elephant were found was the edge of the lake. It was connected by channels with other surrounding lakes. The current rolled objects that fell into the water, for example, the same spear, transferring them from one place to another. It seems that they were not even going to hunt with this spear. They, judging by the blunt end, dug the ground on the shore, and then dropped it into the water, and the current carried it into the lake, where it ran into the carcass of an animal that blocked its path. If there was a hunt that day, there was nothing heroic about it. An old elephant was dying on the shore of the lake. Here his legs buckled, the body sank to the ground. From the crowd of people who were watching from afar the last convulsions of the beast, a young man resolutely stepped out. I took the spear. Approached. Looked around. hit. Nothing dangerous. The elephant didn't even move. What is the strength drove a spear into him. Waved to the others. You can split the loot. This is also a plausible scenario. What about other finds? Torralba in Spain, Gröbern and Neumark Nord in Germany - skeletons of mammoths slain by people have also been found here. However, the first impression was again deceptive. Having re-examined the bones of animals, archaeologists found only characteristic traces of processing them with stone tools - obviously, traces of butchering carcasses, but this does not prove in any way that primitive people personally killed this prey. After all, the thickness of the skin of an adult mammoth, which reached about 4 meters in height, ranged from 2.5 to 4 centimeters. A primitive wooden spear could, at best, inflict a lacerated wound on an animal, but not kill it - especially since the “right of the next blow” remained with the enraged elephant. And was the game worth the candle? In fact, the mammoth was not such a profitable prey. Most of his carcass would simply be rotten. “Neanderthals were smart people. They wanted to get the maximum meat with a minimum of risk to themselves, ”archaeologists unanimously note. Neanderthals lived in small groups, which consisted of 5-7 people. IN warm time years, it took such a tribe half a month to eat 400 kilograms of meat. If the carcass weighed more, the rest would have to be thrown away. Well, what about the anatomically modern man who settled in Europe 40 thousand years ago? No wonder he is a "reasonable being" by definition. Maybe he knew the secrets of hunting mammoths? Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen have been examining mammoth bones found in caves near Ulm, where the people of the Gravett culture were located (by the time it arose, Neanderthals had already died out). The analysis of the finds gave an unambiguous result. In all cases, carcasses of mammoth cubs aged from two weeks to two months were butchered. Employees of the Paris Museum of Natural History explored another site of people of the Gravette culture, located in the town of Milovich in the Czech Republic. The remains of 21 mammoths were found here. In seventeen cases, these are cubs, and in another four, young animals. The Miloviche site was located on the slope of a small valley, whose bottom was made of loess. In the spring, when mammoth cubs were born, the frozen ground thawed, and the loess turned into a mess in which the young mammoths got stuck. Kindred could not help them. The hunters waited for the herd to leave, and then finished off the victim. Perhaps people deliberately drove the mammoths into this "swamp", scaring them with torches. But what about the brave ones? Really, there were never those who, with a spear at the ready, desperately rushed at the mammoth, not sparing their belly? Probably, there were also such daredevils. Only heroes - they are heroes for that, to die young, for example, under the feet of an angry elephant. We, in all likelihood, are the descendants of those prudent hunters who, from an ambush, could wait for days until a lone mammoth cub dies in the trap where it fell. But we, their descendants, are alive, and usually only a memory remains of the heroes.