How Did Neanderthals Hunt Enormous Cave Bears?

[Judi Lynn]

The now-extinct cave bear had a lot to contend with back in the day. Not only were there the bitter colds of the Late Pleistocene era (126,000 to 11,700 years ago), climate-change-induced food shortages, and the occasional cave lion attack but bands of Neanderthals would regularly ambush sleeping bears as they awoke from their annual slumber.

According to a paper recently published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the bears were targeted by the ancient hominins for their pelts, meat, and living quarters.

Marco Peresani at the University of Ferrara in Italy and his team analyzed over 1,700 bear bones found in the Rio Secco and Fomane caves in Northern Italy. Some belonged to the brown bear (Ursus arctos), a species that continues to roam much of Europe today, but the bulk came from cave bears (Ursus spelaeus).

Many of the bones reveal cut marks and lying next to the remains were hundreds of stone tools.

“These cave bears were hunted and butchered by Neanderthals,” Peresani told New Scientist, who added it was likely attacks happened in the springtime when they were at their most vulnerable, just after the bears' hibernation period and when female bears gave birth.

More:
http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/neanderthals-ambushed-hibernating-cave-bears-for-their-pelts-meat-and-to-steal-their-caves/