Did Paleolithic People Like Lion Skin Coats?

If you have a healthy respect for the modern lion, you’ll be relieved to hear that its larger cousin, the Eurasian cave lion – one of the biggest lion species ever to have lived – went extinct around 14,000 years ago. You’d also expect that the Upper Paleolithic humans around at the same time would have kept well clear of these powerful predators. But a recent study suggests that some intrepid Upper Paleolithic humans may in fact have hunted cave lions for their skins.

Credit:Heinrich Harder (1858-1935) / Wikimedia Commons
Marián Cueto and colleagues examined nine fossilized cave lion toe bones discovered at La Garma, an Upper Paleolithic cave site in northern Spain. The video shows various parts of the dramatic cave landscape and includes shots of the lion toe bones in situ.

Credit: Cueto et al., 2016
Most of the bones showed signs of having been modified by humans using stone tools. Their specialized technique appeared similar to that used by modern hunters when skinning prey to keep the claws attached to the fur. The authors suggest that the toe bones they analyzed may therefore have formed part of a single lion pelt, which possibly lay on the floor of the occupied cave. This would correspond with the original locations of the toe bones, as shown in the video.

This surprising find suggests that Upper Paleolithic humans might have been successful in exploiting cave lions for their pelts, and the authors speculate that human hunting of cave lions might have contributed to cave lion extinction.

Contacts and sources:
Beth Bake