Archaeologists find evidence of ancient Neanderthal hunter in the English Channel

By analysing today’s seabed, scientists have been able to develop a picture of how the English Channel might have looked during these dry periods. Jersey, for example — today an island — would have appeared as a plateau rising up out of a rocky, textured landscape.

Meanwhile, undulating gullies and crevices that today are filled with sediments would back then have been covered in grass and shrubs, providing both navigable routes and food for roaming animals such as bison and woolly mammoths.

Dr Pope and his colleagues hypothesised that Neanderthals would have taken advantage of this complicated terrain to hunt — ambushing and cornering their prey in the dried-out channel’s natural pathways.

In fact, in caves on Jersey, the researchers have found the butchered remains of bison, mammoth and reindeer, but it remained unclear whether the island’s surroundings were indeed once used as a hunting ground.

To find out, the team needed to access what is today the sea floor — a feat which, naturally, comes with an assortment of logistical problems.

READ MORE: Archaeology news: Humans and neanderthals were engaged in war

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1702373/archaeology-news-english-channel-spear-tip-neanderthal-hunter-violet-back-seymour-tower