Ancient humans used mastodon bones to hunt the giant beasts

As early as 23 million years ago, giant mastodons roamed the Earth. These elephant ancestors were typically shorter than their modern day descendants, but were more dense and also bore signature tusks. These gigantic mammals were also hunted by the earliest humans before going extinct about 13,000 to 12,700 years ago.

A team of researchers have now found what’s believed to be the oldest direct evidence of mastodon hunting in the Americas. They studied bone fragments embedded in a mastodon rib unearthed in the 1970s at Washington States’ Manis site and found the tip of a weapon…