June 25, 2002 02:26 PM ET
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By Georgina Prodhan
THETFORD, England (Reuters) - British archaeologists revealed an Ice Age site on Tuesday they hope could provide some of the strongest evidence yet that Neanderthal people hunted mammoths.
The 50,000-year-old remains in a gravel pit in eastern England may provide the scientific evidence needed to back up the age-old popular depiction of Neanderthals hunting mammoths and other large animals for food.
Although the Neanderthals' carnivorous diet is not in dispute, scientists have hotly debated whether the squat, muscular race actually hunted large animals and even mammoths rather than scavenging dead ones for meat.
"You always see these pictures of them hunting mammoths, but there is no real evidence. This is as good as it gets," said David Miles of English Heritage, the body that supervises the country's archaeological excavations.
Finds displayed at the dig near Thetford in East Anglia included remains of mammoths, woolly rhinoceros and reindeer found in close proximity to several hand axes, thought to be for butchering animals.
"It's the kind of thing that turns up just once in a lifetime," he said, pointing out a hand axe embedded in the ground next to a mammoth bone.
The site, centering on a group of ponds, is thought to have been a watering hole where Neanderthals -- predecessors of modern humans -- may have herded in or waited for their prey.
"This is the best evidence we've ever had for a Neanderthal kill site: certainly in Britain, but it is also one of the best in Europe," said Miles, English Heritage's chief archaeologist.
BIG QUESTION
But Miles said the big question which needed to be answered was what were the Neanderthals doing at the site.
"With a spear and half a dozen Neanderthals you could actually kill a mammoth," Miles said, staring at a two-meter (six-feet) long mammoth tusk poking out of the earth.
Corroboration must wait until flint axes and animal bones are forensically tested -- a process that will take months.
"We may be in for more sensational revelations yet," said Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum, one of a group of experts visiting the site.
The first clue that the working quarry might be hiding Ice Age secrets came when a quarryman found a black shiny flint followed by a bone and then a tooth.
Bill Boismier, called in to lead the excavation team, was staggered when he realized its significance.
"I have had to pick myself up off the floor," he said.
It is expected the site will provide a wealth of new information about the enigmatic race that died out some 30,000 years ago in mysterious circumstances.
Their demise coincided with the colonization of Europe by more sophisticated homo sapiens, probably spreading from Africa. But it is not known whether they were wiped out by the rival race or simply lost the battle for territory and resources.
What is known is that Neanderthals were capable of surviving in the harshest situations. The Thetford site would have been at the very edge of the habitable world at the time they lived there 40-60,000 years ago.
Summer temperatures peaked at about 13 degrees Celsius (55 Fahrenheit), with winters far colder than today. Further north was only ice.
This may explain why they left behind few traces of artistic activity or religious beliefs, although they did bury the dead and may have had a form of speech.
Until recently it was thought modern humans were descended from Neanderthals, but recent advances in DNA science show it is more likely both developed separately from a common ancestor.
The Neanderthals Live!!