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  • 6 months ago
It’s a far more dangerous game and a far more sophisticated food preservation process than we believed them capable of.

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00:00Neanderthals were the preeminent hominids walking around the planet more than a hundred thousand
00:08years ago. Now, researchers say, based on remains they've found of what are most often referred to
00:12as straight-tusked elephants, or giant prehistoric creatures that were nearly twice the size of
00:17modern African elephants, it appears Neanderthals worked together to bring down such immense
00:21creatures. Straight-tusked elephants stood some 13 feet tall, meaning they had quite a bit of
00:26meat on their bones. Four tons of meat, to be exact. Which is why experts say it would have
00:30literally taken some 25 prehistoric people around three to five days to skin and then preserve the
00:35meat for long-term consumption. Which points to Neanderthals being far more intelligent than we
00:40previously thought, as food preservation, likely via drying, is a much more sophisticated process
00:45than most believe them capable of. And archaeologists have found 125,000-year-old evidence of this
00:51process, discovering myriad charcoal fires at the dig site, where the bones of the giant elephants
00:55were found. In fact, the bones also clue in that the group were targeting only adult male straight-tusked
01:00elephants as well, no doubt for their size. But it also means the meat wasn't scavenged.
01:05Researchers say one of these elephants could have fed a group of 100 people for an entire month.
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