Humans hunt reindeer and mammoths (c. 18,000 BC - Europe)
In the later stages of this glaciation, the vast plains of Europe and Asia are being invaded by herds of reindeer, horses, bison and woolly mammoths, and humans are taking the opportunity to exploit these animals, which provide them with an abundance of food, hides, bones. and ivory.
New Tactics
Humans had to develop new strategies and tactics to catch the huge mammoths and bison, as well as to cope with the speed of horse and reindeer racing. When someone discovers an efficient way of dealing with a certain type of animal, other people immediately follow suit. Thus, success with certain types of hunting encourages communities to focus on certain species at the expense of others. For hunters in Ukraine, bison was occasionally a favorite prey, but both there and in Central Europe now prefer the mammoth. In Western Europe, the most hunted are horses and reindeer.
In Search of Prey
Hunting groups inhabiting caves and rock shelters, such as those at La Madeleine, in southwestern France, have participated in seasonal migrations, chasing reindeer to the north in the summer and later to the south in the winter. Many camps for these hunters, called Magdalenians, were established in the north. The Magdalenians are also fishermen. Their homes are close to river banks, and this allows them to fish for the salmon that now travel up southwestern rivers to spawn.
Prehistory