How did Neanderthals hunt? What weapons did they use?

Prey animals are on a special plane of awareness. They are equipped with highly sensitive hearing and smelling abilities. Chasing them would seem out of the question. Yet, there’s osteological evidence that early modern humans and Neandertals were running on levels even higher than marathon runners (ScienceDirect), and some scientists have ascribed this to hunting activities.

The only comparable group to these archaic peoples is Late Stone Age Khoi San individuals. When I read this paper I immediately knew why they had such high robusticity ratios. They were using small poisoned arrows, and regularly running after those animals for many hours (sometimes days at a time of tracking) until the poison kicked in. Although early modern Levantines (Skhul and Qazfeh hominins) and Neanderthals did not have bows and arrows, they seem to have been engaging in some similar type of persistence hunting, as their robusticity ratios are extremely high.

In terms of faunal assemblage, the evidence is that archaic humans drove groups or herds of animals towards a chokepoint, upon which, from their vantage point, they would either lance spears into the hindlegs of animals or throw spears at them. Still, they would be required to track the animals afterward. “Game drives” requires extraordinary preparation and timing — it was a communal event for Native Americans who used to drive thousands of bison to their death. It requires knowledge of the different animal flight patterns, who they follow, upon what condition…