New research suggests the Gravettian people shared their food with each other as far back as 30,000 years ago.
These people had a pan-European culture and lived in what is now the Czech Republic, they ate large quantities of mammoth meat and used over 1,000 bones to build their settlement, Universitaet Tübingen reported.
The researchers set out to discover whether these bones were taken from mammoth carcasses spotted on the frozen steppe, or were products of hunting. The remains of ancient canids uncovered at the site also suggests they may have helped in mammoth hunts.
To again insight in the ancient people's lives the team of researchers analyzed carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in both the human and animal fossils. This method allowed them to determine if the Gravettian people of Předmostí ate mammoth meat and if they shared it with their dogs.
The team found the humans consumed mammoth meat in large quantities and other local carnivores such as brown bears, wolves and wolverines also consumed the meat, which may have been scarps left behind by hunters. To the researchers' surprise the dogs did not appear to have consumed a high level of mammoth meat, but were given reindeer meat instead (which was not a staple for humans of this time period).
The findings suggest reindeer meat was not a favorable food for humans, which is why it was used as dog food. The observations also suggest these dogs were domestic, and may have been employed as transportation helpers.
"These new results provide clear evidence that mammoth was a key component of prehistoric life in Europe 30,000 years ago, and that dogs were already there to help," the researchers stated.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Quaternary International.
