Going on the hunt with Neanderthals.

The article focuses on the 1948 discovery of a 125,000-year-old straight-tusked elephant skeleton with a 2.3-meter wooden spear lodged in its ribs at Lehringen, Germany, providing evidence of Neanderthals as skilled big-game hunters rather than scavengers. Recent reexamination of the bones by researchers at the Schöningen Research Museum revealed clear butchery marks, indicating the elephant was freshly killed and processed by Neanderthals using flint tools. The site also contained remains of other butchered animals, suggesting regular hunting activity. Additionally, genetic studies of Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA from multiple European sites indicate a population turnover around 65,000 years ago, with reduced genetic diversity preceding their disappearance about 40,000 years ago. [Extracted from the article]