What the Neanderthal could do

These Extinct Elephants Were Neanderthals’ ‘Biggest Calorie Bombs’ – A study of butchered bones from 125,000 years ago offers what researchers call “the first clear-cut evidence of elephant-hunting in human evolution.”:

By calculating the intensity and nutritional yields of the Neanderthals’ well-documented butchering activities, the research team offers further proof that our hominid cousins were cooperative hunters who knew how to preserve meat and might have lived a settled existence in large groups. The findings challenge the assumption that Neanderthals were basically nomads who lived in bands of no more than 25, in isolation from one another.

Central African Pygmies butcher forest elephants, so it’s not like we don’t know how this would work. So I guess all the old Neanderthal limitations are falling apart. Not entirely surprised. But we shouldn’t assume they were exactly like us…we need to find a balance.