14 DAY TRIAL // It's all about spicy chicken wings or hamburgers these day, but hundreds of millennia ago, our ancestors had a very different diet. Sure, they ate meat, but it was not the kind of meat we are accustomed to.
Thus, anthropologists now claim that, about 500,000 years ago, early humans butchered and ate elephants. They know this because, not long ago, several stone tools with traces of elephant fat on them were unearthed in Israel.
The millennia-old tools were recovered from a quarry in Revadim, a community south Israel. They were found together with animal bones left behind by goats, deer, gazelles and ancient pachyderms.
In fact, anthropologists say that the tools were found right next to an elephant rib showing clear signs of having been cut. An analysis of the residue on them revealed the tools once served to butcher pachyderms our ancestors shared their world with.
It is believed that the reason early humans started using such tools to cut elephant carcasses and other big game is that, as their brains got bigger, they felt the need to eat more meat and fat than their forefathers.
“There are three parts to this puzzle: the expansion of the human brain, the shift to meat consumption, and the ability to develop sophisticated technology to meet the new biological demands,” explained researcher Ran Barkai with Israel's Tel Aviv University.
