The team from Texas A&M University speculated that the ancient hunter had intended to use the spear to puncture the mastodon’s lung, but unfortunately missed the target.
The oldest javelin point in the Americas was discovered at the Manis site in Washington, USA in the late 1970s. Analysis revealed that ancient people made the javelin from the femur of a mastodon, a prehistoric relative of elephants. The Manis javelin was found lodged inside the rib of a mastodon, providing the oldest direct evidence of hunting this species in the Americas.
Professor Michael Waters of Texas A&M University and his team used computed tomography and 3D software to separate each bone fragment and magnify the image six times. They then pieced together the images to visualize what the specimen would have looked like before it was pierced by the javelin. The results of their study were published in the journal Sciences Advances on February 1.
The ancient hunter’s aim was to stab the mastodon between the ribs and puncture its lungs, but unfortunately missed the target. The spear penetrated the skin and tissue before hitting the ribs. This finding was previously dated in a study published in the journal Science in 2011 by Waters and his colleagues.
Dating back to 13,900 years, the Manis javelin predates the Clovis stone javelin, which was discovered in Texas and dates back to 12,750-13,050 years. The Clovis spearhead has been studied by Michael Waters, a professor of anthropology at Texas A&M University, who hypothesizes that the Clovis civilization were the first inhabitants of the Americas, crossing from Siberia to Alaska through the Bering Strait during the last Ice Age.
The presence of weapons like the Manis javelin and other stone tools throughout North America indicates that the early people who entered and explored the Americas brought with them a diverse array of technologies and tools to help them adapt to their new surroundings and ensure their survival.
