Neanderthals Hunted Elephants Strategically

New analysis of the 1948 Lehringen find shows a wooden yew spear lodged between the ribs of a straight‑tusked elephant and butchery marks indicating deliberate evisceration and marrow/fur harvesting. The site also contains cut‑marked bones from 16 species, implying repeated, organized occupation for large‑scale processing rather than opportunistic scavenging. — This reframes public and scientific conversations about Neanderthals from passive scavengers to strategic megafauna hunters, with implications for how we teach human uniqueness, cooperative hunting, and Paleolithic social organization.