Long before ancient Rome was the city of gladiators, emperors, and espresso bars, it was a hotbed of elephant butchery.
Roughly 400,000 years ago, a band of early humans came across a creature that would make today’s African elephant look pocket-sized by comparison. It’s the Palaeoloxodon antiquus. In your mind’s eye, picture an elephant, but with straight tusks instead of curved, and even bigger, towering over ancient humans at around 13 feet tall and weighing 29,000 pounds.
For comparison, the average modern-day African elephant measures in at around 10 feet tall and weighs in at anywhere between 6,000 to 13,000 pounds.
According to research published in PLOS One, Palaeoloxodon antiquus was a behemoth, which made for good eating.
At a site in northwest Rome called Casal Lumbroso, scientists uncovered the aftermath of what appears to be a gigantic prehistoric barbecue. Over 300 fossilized bones from one of these massive animals were found scattered across the area, alongside more than 500 tiny stone tools, most of which were less than 1.2 inches long.
These prehistoric peoples were trying to disassemble a dump truck with a pocket knife, but they somehow managed to pull it off.
Fractures on the remains indicate that the elephant was butchered soon after death, likely for its meat and soft tissue, which would’ve been a calorie feast for a hunting group. The researchers found little evidence of cuts or scrapes on the bones themselves, implying they targeted the soft bits and didn’t waste time hacking at bone like amateurs. They knew what they were doing.
The researchers even found evidence that several of the elephant’s bones were later repurposed into larger tools, possibly because the local geology didn’t offer rocks big enough for the job of smashing them apart. So, they made do with femurs the size of surfboards.
Similar scenes have been uncovered across central Italy, where early humans repeatedly transformed these gigantic elephant ancestors into Texas de Brazil-style meat bonanzas.
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