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Punctured Horse Shoulder Blade

Hunting of large animals with spears

The semicircular wound on this  fragment of a horse shoulder blade was made by a weapon such as a spear, indicating it was killed by early humans. Other horse bones from the same site have butchery marks from stone tools.

Boxgrove horse scapula with spear puncture hole
Horse shoulder blade or scapula from Boxgrove, England, about 500,000 years old
Image Credit: James Di Loreto, & Donald H. Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution
Punctured Horse Shoulder Blade
Exhibit Item
Date of discovery:
Discovered by: A team led by Mark Roberts
Species:
Site: Boxgrove, England
Page last updated: February 9, 2016