Archeological sites along the Bay of Biscay in France and Spain have revealed that people have been making tools out of whale bones for more than 20,000-years. This shows the inventiveness of prehistoric humans.

Researchers said that the tools were made from bones of at least 5 species of large whales. These included hunting implements like projectile points. The most common bones were those of sperm whales. They were followed by those from fin whales and gray whales.

The Ice Age hunter gatherers who created these implements, due to the fact that seafaring abilities were not developed until thousands of year later, would have been unable hunt whales in the Bay of Biscay - a Gulf of the Atlantic Ocean.

The study, published in Nature Communications, was co-authored by Krista McGrath, a biomolecular anthropologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

The majority of bones identified were from deep-water offshore species, such as fin whales and sperm whales. These would have been difficult for prehistoric groups to hunt. McGrath stated that there was no evidence that these groups had the technology to hunt actively, such as seafaring vessels.

The researchers found 71 artifacts of whale bones in 27 caves or rock shelters. The oldest two, made from fin whale bones, were found in the Spanish Cantabrian site of Rascano. They date back to around 20,500 years.

The artifacts ranged in age from 14,000 to more than 20.000 years, but the majority were between 16,000 and 17,500 years.

Antler from red deer or reindeer was the main raw material for spear points because it is more flexible and less brittle than bone from land mammals. Whale bone had some advantages. For example, some projectile points were larger than 16 inches.

They can be long and thick and were likely hafted to spear-style projectiles instead of arrows. Many of them are fragments with fractures from use. They were probably used to hunt the major game animals at the time, including reindeer and deer, horses, bison, and ibex.

Bone tools have been used by humans since before the arrival of Homo sapiens in Africa, more than 300 000 years ago. This study examined artifacts that pushed the oldest known use of whale bone for toolmaking back by 1,000-2,000 years.

The museum had previously collected the objects, which were found at various sites. Researchers used modern techniques to analyze the bones and determine their age.

Petillon stated that humans living during this prehistoric period were mostly inland hunters. They obtained most of their subsistence from hunting large hoofed mammal. Petillon said that the new findings help to understand how they exploited seashore resources.

Research had previously shown that Ice Age humans gathered seashells, fished for marine species and hunted seabirds to complement meat from terrestrial animals.

McGrath stated that the new findings show these prehistoric groups to have been very well adapted and had a deep understanding of their local habitats and ecological knowledge.

"Whale bones would have been used for more than just tools. The bones, which contain large quantities of oil, may have been used as fuel. The rest of the whale was also used, including the teeth, baleen, or meat depending on species, and the skin. McGrath stated that a single whale can provide a great deal of resources.

(source: Reuters)