Humans have been using bear skins for at least 300,000 years, suggests study

Phys dot org ^ | December 23, 2022 | Antje Karbe, University of Tübingen

[SunkenCiv]

Humans have been using bear skins to protect themselves from cold weather for at least 300,000 years. This is suggested by cut marks on the metatarsal and phalanx of a cave bear discovered at the Lower Paleolithic site of Schöningen in Lower Saxony, Germany. This makes it one of the oldest examples of this type in the world...

A bear's winter coat consists of both long outer hairs that form an airy protective layer and short, dense hairs that provide particularly good insulation. Bears, including extinct cave bears, needed a highly insulating coat for hibernation. "These newly discovered cut marks are an indication that about 300,000 years ago, people in northern Europe were able to survive in winter thanks in part to warm bear skins," says the researcher, a doctoral student in the Schöningen research project and employee of the State Heritage Office of Lower Saxony...

"If only adult animals are found at an archaeological site, this is usually considered an indication of hunting—at Schöningen, all the bear bones and teeth belonged to adult individuals." In addition, he said, bear skin must be removed shortly after the animal's death, otherwise the hair is lost and the skin becomes unusable. "Since the animal was skinned, it couldn't have been dead for long at that point," Verheijen explains.

[SunkenCiv]

Since it’s not uncommon for people to think that bears hibernate, you’re wrong. And since you’re wrong about that, I don’t think you know much of anything.

[snip] Many animals once thought to hibernate, including bears, really only enter a lighter sleep-state called torpor. [/snip]

https://www.nationalforests.org/blog/do-bears-really-hibernate