Humans

Ancient horse hunts challenge ideas of ‘modern’ human behavior

Sophisticated social and mental capacities date back at least 300,000 years

An artistic rendering of communal hunting, showing people with spears and horses.

Communal hunting of horses in Europe 300,000 years ago required sophisticated planning and coordination.

David Palumbo

By Bruce Bower

On a bright, late-summer day in north-central Europe around 300,000 years ago, a team of perhaps a couple dozen hunters got into their assigned positions for a big kill.

Little did they know that remnants of this lethal event would someday contribute to a scientific rethink about the social and intellectual complexity of Stone Age life.