Did Neanderthals and sabre-toothed wage battles? Fossil remains reveal the predators lived side-by-side with our ancestors
- Fossils found on the archaeological site of Schöningen in Germany
- Archaeologists have unearthed teeth and one humerus belonging to sabre-toothed cats, in same area where they also found ancient human remains
- It proves humans and the big cats lived in close proximity, experts say
Neanderthals may have waged desperate battles for survival against giant sabre-toothed cats, according to new research.
Palaeontologists working on the archaeological site of Schöningen in north-central Germany, have found that humans and the European sabre-toothed cat lived in close proximity, although whether they were predators or our human ancestors were hunting them remains unanswered.
Archaeologists have unearthed five fossil teeth and one fossil humerus belonging to sabre-toothed cats, in the same area where they also found a number of wooden spears, one lance, a double pointed stick, and a burnt stick dating to the Holsteinian period, 300,000 years ago.
Experts working on the archaeological site of Schöningen in north-central Germany, have found that humans and the European sabre-toothed cat lived in close proximity
At the time the area would have been inhabited by Neanderthals.
The study, reported in the Journal of Human Evolution, concluded: 'The presence of this species as a carnivore competitor would certainly have impacted the lives of late Middle Pleistocene hominins.
'The discovery illustrates the possible day-to-day challenges that the Schöningen hominins would have faced and suggests that the wooden spears were not necessarily only used for hunting, but possibly also as a weapon for self-defence.'
Between 1994 and 1998 archaeologists unearthed completely preserved wooden weapons at Schöningen believed to date back to 300,000 or more years ago.
They were discovered at an open-cast lignite mine and the remains included 16,000 animal bones, including 20 wild horses, with butchery marks on the bones, Popular Archaeology reports.
The fossil study was carried out by Jordi Serangeli of the Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, and colleagues from other institutions.
Encounters between sabre-toothed cats and prehistoric humans are a popular theme in films including the cartoon Ice Age and 10,000 Years BC.
YOUNG SABRE-TOOTH TIGERS WERE PUSSY CATS! FEARSOME BEASTS DIDN'T GET THEIR DAGGER-SHAPED FANGS UNTIL THEY WERE THREE
The sabre-tooth tiger may have been capable of slaying mammoths and rhinos, but it only had relatively small teeth until the age of three.
New research suggests that the animal's impressively long, dagger-shaped teeth developed later in life than modern cats do.
But once they emerged, they grew twice as quickly as the lion's, for example.
A partially fossilized jaw from an adult Smilodon fatalis saber-toothed cat showing a fully erupted canine - which didn't appear until later in life.
The sabre-tooth tiger, now more accurately known as the sabre-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis, lived in North and South America until it became extinct 10,000 years ago.
The big cats are famous for their protruding canines, which could grow up to seven inches (18 cm) long.
Although well-preserved fossils are available to researchers, very little is known about the ages at which the animals reached key developmental stages and grew teeth, for example.
Researchers from Clemson University in South Carolina examined specimens recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles
They used data from stable oxygen isotope analyses with X-rays and information from previous studies to calculate when the prehistoric cats' permanent upper canines came through, as well as other growth events.
They believe that the cats got most of their teeth by 14 to 22 months, with the exception of their famous 'fangs'.
The experts say the long teeth didn't develop until the cats were around three years' old, which is delayed in comparison to similar-sized living members of the cat family.
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