Neolithic beaver bone pit reveals early fur hunting

A 7,000-year-old bone pit containing the skeletal remains of at least 12 beavers likely hunted for their fur has been discovered near Alsleben, Germany.

The early Neolithic pit was discovered by a team from the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology (LDA) Saxony-Anhalt in advance of high-voltage line construction in 2024. It was located above the Saale River in an area known to have had Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age settlements. The excavation uncovered numerous remains from the Neolithic-era occupation — postholes, burials, storage pits — including one small pit less than 32 inches in diameter that was packed with animals bones. Archaeologists knew at first glance that beaver were among them, because of their distinctive orange teeth. A flint object found in the fill of the pit suggested a Neolithic date.

The bone pit was removed in a soil block for careful excavation in laboratory conditions. The bones were radiocarbon dated and found to date to between 4935 and 4787 B.C. when the Stroke-Ornamented Ware Culture occupied the area and much of Central Europe.

While archaeological evidence has been found that beaver meat was eaten at this time and later, that was not the purpose of this hunt. There are no cut marks on the bones typically left by butchering and had the carcasses been consumed, the skeletal remains would be complete when they were discarded.

The bones are exceptionally well preserved and mostly unfragmented. Based on the skulls already uncovered, it can be assumed that the remains of at least twelve individuals were disposed of in the pit. The absence of some bones and the lack of anatomical coherence among the existing remains indicate that the animals were already skeletonized at the time of deposition. Various age classes, from quite young (1 year old) to old animals (over eight years old), can be identified based on the bones.

Hunting beavers along the Saale River in Alsleben was likely possible during the Neolithic. The concentration of bones in a single find suggests a unique event. Presumably, the animals were hunted for their fur, skinned, and the carcasses left until they decomposed, possibly on a garbage heap. The individual bones were later disposed of in the pit. The Alsleben find thus not only points to specialized hunting strategies in the early Neolithic period, but also allows us to draw conclusions about clothing at that time, which we can imagine to have been quite elaborate.

* This article was originally published here