Early humans butchered elephants using small tools and made big tools from their bones

Multiple sites in central Italy show consistent strategy during warm parts of the Middle Pleistocene

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Excavation at Casal Lumbroso.

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Credit: Beniamino Mecozzi, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

During warmer periods of the Middle Pleistocene, ancient humans in Italy were in the habit of butchering elephants for meat and raw materials, according to a study published October 8, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Beniamino Mecozzi of Sapienza University of Rome, Italy and colleagues.

Ancient humans used animal carcasses for meat and other resources, but direct evidence of butchery is sparse and can be difficult to identify in the archaeological record. In this study, Mecozzi and colleagues describe the remains of an elephant carcass at the site of Casal Lumbroso in northwest Rome. Comparative study of ash deposits at the site reveals that these remains date to 404,000 years ago, during a particularly warm period of the Middle Pleistocene Epoch.

The researchers identified over 300 skeletal remains from a single straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon, alongside more than 500 stone tools. Several of the bones exhibit fresh fractures made shortly after the animal’s death, each associated with impact marks where blunt force was used to create the fractures. A lack of apparent cut marks on the bones is consistent with small tools having been used to butcher soft tissues, and accordingly most of the stone tools at the site are less than 30mm in size, possibly due to low availability of large stones. Several elephant bones were physically modified to be used as larger tools.

The features of this site are consistent with several other sites in central Italy that exhibit butchered elephant remains alongside modified bones and small stone tools. This pattern implies a consistent strategy used by ancient hominins during periods of mild climate conditions in the Middle Pleistocene, and further suggests that central Italy is a valuable region for research into the subsistence strategies of early European humans.

The authors add: "Our study shows how, 400,000 years ago in the area of Rome, human groups were able to exploit an extraordinary resource like the elephant—not only for food, but also by transforming its bones into tools."

"Reconstructing these events means bringing to life ancient and vanished scenarios, revealing a world where humans, animals, and ecosystems interacted in ways that still surprise and fascinate us today.”

The freely available article in PLOS One: http://plos.io/4gIj95A 

1,000-year-old gut microbiome for young man who lived in pre-Hispanic Mexico

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Zimapán man, also referred to as Hna Hnu, was a resident of the Mesoamerican border who lived 1,000 years ago. The image shows the moment when Hna Hnu's body was opened. This body was found inside a cave in a dry environment, which allowed their remains to remain for nearly 1,000 years. From the remains, we were able to isolate a coprolite and intestinal tissue, which was used to extract the DNA of the bacteria still present at the time of Hna Hnu’s life. From this genetic material, we were able to recover their gut microbiome community. Bacteria associated with the degradation of complex plant tissue and even, very likely, with the degradation of insect molecules such as those of the Clostridium genus were discovered. Hna Hnu provided us with valuable information about the association between the microbiome and diet.

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Credit: Rene Cerritos Flores, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Analysis of preserved feces and intestinal tissue has revealed specific types of bacteria that were present in the microbiome of a young adult man who lived in Mexico about 1,000 years ago, prior to Spanish colonization. Santiago Rosas-Plaza of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on October 8, 2025.

The human gut microbiome consists of microorganisms, including bacteria, that naturally live in people’s intestines. Certain types of bacteria are widely associated with the human gut microbiome, but a person’s particular mix of bacteria may vary depending on factors such as age, diet, health, and where they live. Studying ancient microbiomes using mummies and human remains can therefore deepen understanding of ancient populations and show how the human microbiome may have changed over time.

A growing number of ancient microbiomes have been revealed, including for an ancient Incan person and Germany’s “Tyrolean Iceman.” To further expand the field, Rosas-Plaza and colleagues analyzed the exceptionally well-preserved remains of a man discovered in a rock shelter in Zimapán, Mexico. Prior analyses suggest the “Zimapán man” was most likely a seasonal seminomadic hunter-gatherer who was part of the ancient Mesoamerican Otopame culture and died about 1,000 years ago between the ages of 21 and 35.

To determine which types of bacteria may have been present in the man’s microbiome, the researchers applied a standard method known as 16S rRNA gene sequencing to his mummified intestinal tissue and preserved feces.

They found several families of bacteria associated with the human microbiome, including Peptostreptococcaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, and Enterococcaceae. They also detected high levels of bacteria in the Clostridiaceae family, which have previously been found in intestinal tissue of mummies from ancient Andean civilizations. The remains also contained some bacteria, such as Romboutsia hominis, that are associated with the modern human gut microbiome, but have not been found in ancient microbiomes until now.

These findings expand knowledge of ancient microbiomes and could provide clues to the Zimapán man’s life. Further analysis will be needed confirm these results and determine the complete composition of the Zimapán man’s microbiome.

The authors add: “Zimapán man’s remains were neatly wrapped like a bundle, which can be interpreted as indicating that they were an important figure within the community. The outer layer of the bundle was made of a mat, that is, long fibers, apparently maguey, intertwined to form a strong yet malleable rectangle. Beneath this mat, and on top of which Zimapán man was placed, was a perfectly woven sheet of native brown cotton. Studying the mathematical composition of the knots within the fabric, we concluded that it was a peculiar and complex arrangement to carry out. For almost eight years now, Master Luisa Mainauo, who safeguards the mortuary bundle, has been working with her team to restore the savannah and soon be able to show it not only to the people of Mexico but to the entire world.”

 The freely available article in PLOS One: http://plos.io/46iRuEK

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Journal

PLOS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0331137 

Ancient teeth provide new insight into the lives of the world’s first farming villagers Peer-Reviewed Publication

 

Researchers, led by the universities of Durham and Liverpool, UK, analysed the chemical signatures in teeth from 71 people, spanning the entire Neolithic period from 11,600 to 7,500 years ago.  

The teeth were found at five archaeological sites in what is now modern Syria. 

By analysing the strontium and oxygen isotopes in the tooth enamel, the researchers were able to establish if the individuals grew up locally or whether they moved from a different area - reconstructing previously invisible patterns of mobility. 

This tooth analysis, combined with skeletal evidence and funerary practices, revealed that once permanent villages were firmly established, most people stayed local and strengthened ties to particular communities.  

Interestingly, towards the end of the Neolithic it appears that women were more likely than men to move between communities. 

This suggests patrilocal traditions, in which women relocated to form marriages in new communities, whereas men remained in their home villages. 

This movement cycle may have evolved to avoid inbreeding within communities. 

The study also found that local and non-local individuals were often buried together and received the same, sometimes exceptional, funerary treatments. 

The research is published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. 

Senior author, Dr Eva Fernandez-Dominguez of Durham University’s Department of Archaeology, said: “This research allows us to see, for the very first time in this region, how mobility and social connections shaped the earliest farming societies. 

“We found that villagers largely stayed local, yet they welcomed newcomers who appeared to be fully integrated into social and funerary life.  

“The evidence of women moving between villages also points to complex social dynamics in the world’s first permanent settlements.” 

First author of the study, Dr Jo-Hannah Plug, currently of the University of Oxford, said: “The Late Neolithic period in this region is archaeologically known for the development of new cross-regional networks, innovation, and the movement of material culture, animals, and ideas.  

“Our research, for the first time, shows direct evidence for the movement of people during this period too.  

“Our observation that women in particular were mobile, illustrates their - likely central - role in the processes of innovation and the establishing of cross-regional networks of the Neolithic period. 

“Our results suggest that the reproductive networks of this period extended beyond the direct neighbouring communities, and that marriage partners were sought potentially quite far away.” 

The researchers found that at some sites, individuals who originated elsewhere appeared fully integrated into village life, suggesting early farming communities were inclusive and open to newcomers.  

One striking example came from one of the sites, Tell Halula, where multiple layers of human remains were preserved within house floors.  

Analysis revealed that the individuals buried together in the same house included both locals and non-locals, all treated with the same funerary practices.  

Further evidence across the samples showed that local and non-local people were buried in close proximity in the same cemeteries and spaces, with the same elaborate burial assemblages and with similar post-mortem manipulations such as being buried in a seated position. 

This indicates that mobility did not preclude social inclusion, and that villagers in the Neolithic period were open to assimilating newcomers fully into community life and afforded them the same distinct treatment in death. 

The study demonstrates how scientific techniques, such as isotope analysis, can transform our understanding of human social life from thousands of years ago. 

It also fills a major knowledge gap in the Northern Levant, a key corridor for the spread of agriculture and settled human societies. 

The research was funded by The Leverhulme Trust. 

ENDS 

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Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-025-18134-3 

Easter Island’s statues actually “walked” – and physics backs it up

New study uses 3D modeling, field experiments to confirm how Rapa Nui villagers moved massive statues

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A research team including Binghamton University archaeologist Carl Lipo has confirmed via 3D modeling and field experiments that the ancient people of Rapa Nui "walked" the iconic moai statues.

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Credit: Carl Lipo

For years, researchers have puzzled over how the ancient people of Rapa Nui did the seemingly impossible and moved their iconic moai statues. Using a combination of physics, 3D modeling and on-the-ground experiments, a team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York, has confirmed that the statues actually walked – with a little rope and remarkably few people.

Studying nearly 1,000 moai statues, Binghamton University Professor of Anthropology Carl Lipo and the University of Arizona’s Terry Hunt found that the people of Rapa Nui likely used rope and “walked” the giant statues in a zig-zag motion along carefully designed roads.

Lipo and his colleagues had previously demonstrated via experimental evidence that the large statues “walked” from their quarry to ceremonial platforms using an upright, rocking motion, challenging a theory that the statues were moved lying prone on wooden devices. 

“Once you get it moving, it isn’t hard at all – people are pulling with one arm. It conserves energy, and it moves really quickly,” said Lipo. “The hard part is getting it rocking in the first place. The question is, if it's really large, what would it take? Are the things that we saw experimentally consistent with what we would expect from a physics perspective?”

To explore how a larger statue might move, Lipo’s team created high-resolution 3D models of the moai and identified distinctive design features – wide D-shaped bases and a forward lean – that would make them more likely to be moved in a rocking, zig-zagging motion.

Putting their theory to the test, the team built a 4.35-ton replica moai with the distinct ‘forward-lean’ design. With just 18 people, the team was able to transport the moai 100 meters in just 40 minutes, a marked improvement over previous vertical transport attempts. 

“The physics makes sense,” said Lipo. “What we saw experimentally actually works. And as it gets bigger, it still works. All the attributes that we see about moving gigantic ones only get more and more consistent the bigger and bigger they get, because it becomes the only way you could move it.”

Adding to the support for this theory are the roads of Rapa Nui. Measuring 4.5 meters wide with a concave cross-section, the roads were ideal for stabilizing the statues as they moved forward.

“Every time they're moving a statue, it looks like they're making a road. The road is part of moving the statue,” said Lipo. “We actually see them overlapping each other, and many parallel versions of them. What they are probably doing is clearing a path, moving it, clearing another, clearing it further, and moving it right in certain sequences. So they're spending a lot of time on the road part.”

Lipo said that nothing else currently explains how the moai were moved. The challenge to anyone else is to prove them wrong. 

“Find some evidence that shows it couldn't be walking. Because nothing we've seen anywhere disproves that,” said Lipo. “In fact, everything we ever see and ever thought of keeps strengthening the argument.”

Lipo said Rapa Nui is notorious for wild theories backed by zero evidence. This research is an example of putting a theory to the test. 

“People have spun all kinds of tales about stuff that's plausible or possible in some way, but they never go about evaluating the evidence to show that, in fact, you can learn about the past and explain the record that you see in ways that are fully scientific,” said Lipo. “One of the steps is simply saying, "Look, we can build an answer here.”

Lipo said that the research also honors the people of Rapa Nui, who achieved a monumental engineering feat with limited resources. 

“It shows that the Rapa Nui people were incredibly smart. They figured this out,” said Lipo. “They're doing it the way that's consistent with the resources they have. So it really gives honor to those people, saying, look at what they were able to achieve, and we have a lot to learn from them in these principles.”

The paper, “The Walking Moai Hypothesis: Archaeological Evidence, Experimental Validation, and Response to Critics,” was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

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Journal

Journal of Archaeological Science

DOI

10.1016/j.jas.2025.106383 

Jamestown colonists brought donkeys, not just horses, to North America, old bones reveal

 

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Florida

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An illustration of a donkey in colonilal Jamestown.

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Credit: Paula Calle Lopez, Courtesy of Jamestown Rediscovery (Preservation Virginia)

A new study published in Science Advances about centuries-old horse and donkey bones, unearthed in Jamestown, Virginia, is rewriting the story of how these animals first arrived in North America.

While written records from the earliest English explorers show that horses were among the animals brought to Virginia, the new zooarchaeological analysis of animal remains found at Jamestown is the first to show that colonists also brought donkeys to the New World.

The study also reveals a dark ending to these equids in the colony: The horses and donkeys were likely butchered and eaten during Jamestown’s infamous winter of starvation.

“There are no written records of donkeys on ship manifests and reports, yet evidence suggests they were valued as dependable work animals,” said John Krigbaum, Ph.D., professor and chair anthropology at the University of Florida. Krigbaum served as the senior author on this study alongside lead author William Taylor, Ph.D., at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The team’s work is a testament to the vast amount of information researchers can glean from just a small collection of centuries-old animal bones. With their preliminary tests, archaeologists linked the earliest parts of the settlement to the "Starving Time" winter of 1609-1610, a connection later confirmed by radiocarbon dating. The study provides an early glimpse into how and why horses and donkeys were transported and managed and how they were able to spread and establish wild populations across the continent.

Assisting Krigbaum with both the research and writing were George Kamenov, Ph.D., a senior associate in the Department of Geological Sciences, UF doctoral student Diana Quintero-Bisono and Nicolas Delsol, a former postdoctoral student at the Florida Museum of Natural History who currently works at Université Laval in Quebec.

With the species and timeframe confirmed, further tests unveiled new insights into how these animals once lived. Wear and tear on the bones showed evidence of bridling, suggesting their use as work animals. Ancient DNA and bone chemistry analysis of the isotopes in tooth enamel suggested that the donkey did not originate in Great Britain but was picked up by settlers along the route of their transatlantic journey.

“Ancient DNA points to Iberia or West Africa, which is consistent with its isotope signature, but the isotopic evidence is also consistent with Trinidad and Tobago, which is not far off the route sailed,” said Krigbaum. 

Examining the wear and tear on the samples also revealed a tragic end for many of these animals. Faced with hunger during the Starving Time and having soured their relationships with nearby indigenous people, settlers were forced to eat their animals and, in the direst situations, their dead. While we have records that horses were consumed during this time, this can also be observed with other samples, including donkey remains. “They show that adult horses were eaten, butchered and cooked or boiled, with most elements split open to extract even the minutest nutritional resources including dental pulp,” the team wrote in their study.

For Krigbaum and his colleagues, the Jamestown assemblage is just the beginning. Their next project will examine horse remains from the 16th century Spanish settlement of Puerto Real, in the Caribbean, to uncover further evidence of how horses and donkeys helped shape the earliest chapters of American history.

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adw2595