Flint Fragment Found in Mammoth Bone in Poland

KRAKÓW, POLAND—According to a Science in Poland report, a tiny fragment of a flint weapon has been discovered in a 25,000-year-old mammoth rib unearthed in southern Poland. The remains of at least 110 mammoths, mixed with hundreds of fragments of flint blades for processing meat and hides, have been recovered from the site. “We finally have a ‘smoking gun,’ the first direct evidence of how these animals were hunted,” said Piotr Wojtal of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The piece of flint measures about three tenths of an inch long, and is thought to have been the tip of a spear that was driven into the animal’s body. Wojtal said the spear was probably thrown from a distance with great force, since it would have had to pierce the mammoth’s thick skin and layer of fat in order to reach the bone. The wound would not have been fatal, however, he explained, but was likely to have been part of a coordinated attack by several hunters. To read about a mammoth whose remains were discovered in Michigan, go to “Leftover Mammoth.”