NEANDERTHALS and early humans knew how to make spears but they didn’t know how to throw them. Instead, they had a limited hunting strategy, and used their spears merely to stab animals they had already trapped or ambushed.
This finding by a team of anthropologists provides an important insight into a defining moment in our ancestors’ development, when early humans evolved from hunters who killed at close-quarters to sophisticated killers capable of bringing down large beasts from a distance.
The first direct evidence of thrown spears dates back to about 19,000 years ago. That’s the age of the first known…
