New archaeological evidence from Germany suggests that early humans lived alongside sabre-toothed cats, potentially using wooden spears for defence against the formidable predators. The findings, published in the Journal of Human Evolution, detail the discovery of five teeth and a worked arm bone from two sabre-toothed cats at a former coal mine in Schöningen, near Hanover.
The 300,000-year-old remains are described as 'spectacular' by researchers, who say they provide the first proof that sabre-toothed cats coexisted with early humans in Europe. Dr Jordi Serangeli of the University of Tübingen explained that the humans, likely Homo heidelbergensis, were hunters but had to defend themselves from large carnivores.
The site is already famous for yielding the oldest known wooden spears, suggesting early humans used these weapons for hunting horses and deer. The new find indicates that spears may also have been used for self-defence against predators like the sabre-toothed cat, which had enormous teeth for ripping flesh.
The cat's humerus bone, which had been worked into a rudimentary hammer by humans, is a unique example of its kind. Dr Serangeli noted that this discovery illustrates the daily challenges faced by early humans at Schöningen.
However, Dr Mark Roberts of University College London, who works at the Boxgrove site in southern England, cautioned that it is uncertain whether humans actively killed the sabre-toothed cat. He noted that without more skeletal material, it is impossible to demonstrate that hominins killed the cat, though evidence from Boxgrove shows that Homo heidelbergensis was already a top predator capable of butchering large animals.
