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When Elephants Roamed Asia: The Significance of Proboscideans in Diet, Culture and Cosmology in Paleolithic Asia

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Animals and Human Society in Asia

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series ((PMAES))

Abstract

Early humans and elephants roamed the Pleistocene landscapes of Asia and shared habitats for hundreds of thousands of years. Many Paleolithic archaeological sites in Asia, and especially in the Middle East and China, contain abundant elephant remains that clearly demonstrate that early humans were capable of obtaining these mega herbivores. The significant role of elephants the Paleolithic is well demonstrated throughout the Old World and the dietary significance of proboscideans has also recently been explored. This chapter argues that, during Paleolithic times, proboscideans, when available, represented a constant and significant source of calories for early humans which were actually dependent on mega herbivores for their successful survival. Moreover, the central role of proboscideans as a food source, coupled with the social, behavioral and even physical resemblance between these animals and humans, were the reasons behind the cosmological conception of elephants by early humans. The archaeological evidence for such speculation lies in the use of elephant bones for the production of tools that resemble the characteristic Lower Paleolithic stone hand axes, as well as the later depictions of mammoths in cave “art” and the production of mammoth “sculptures” and engravings made from mammoth ivory and bone. Ethnographic studies support such a view too. Given that early humans in Asia were repeatedly preoccupied by the procurement, exploitation and appreciation of elephants, this chapter explores the nature of human-elephant relationships based on case studies from China and the Levant.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Agam and Barkai (2018, 3) and Ben-Dor et al. (2011, e28689).

  2. 2.

    Domínguez-Rodrigo and Pickering (2017, 4–32).

  3. 3.

    Agam and Barkai (2018, 3).

  4. 4.

    Barkai, in press.

  5. 5.

    Zutovski and Barkai (2016, 227–238).

  6. 6.

    Braun and Palombo (2012, 61–76) and Hussain and Floss (2015, 85–120).

  7. 7.

    Barkai in press; Lewis (2015, 1–27).

  8. 8.

    Hussain and Floss (2015, 85–120) and Lev and Barkai (2015, 239–245).

  9. 9.

    Ben-Dor et al. (2011, e28689).

  10. 10.

    E.g., Iakovleva (2015, 324–334).

  11. 11.

    Grayson and Meltzer (2003, 585–593) and Halligan et al. (2016, e1600375).

  12. 12.

    E.g., Bunn (2006, 191–211) and Pante (2013, 68–82).

  13. 13.

    E.g., Hardy et al. (2015, 251–268) and Melamed et al. (2016, 14674–14679).

  14. 14.

    Friedman (1996, 6–29) and Givens et al. (2006, 209–218).

  15. 15.

    Ben-Dor et al. (2011, e28689).

  16. 16.

    Reshef and Barkai (2015, 28–34).

  17. 17.

    Ben-Dor et al. (2016, 367–378).

  18. 18.

    E.g., Biesele (1993) and Jones (1989, 68–82).

  19. 19.

    Aiello and Wheeler (1995, 199–221); Zink and Lieberman (2016, 500–503).

  20. 20.

    Ben-Dor et al. (2011, e28689) and Speth and Spielmann (1983, 1–31).

  21. 21.

    E.g., Domínguez-Rodrigo et al. (2014, 129–152).

  22. 22.

    E.g., Agam and Barkai (2016, 218–226), Blasco et al. (2013, 124–144), Rabinovich et al. (2012, 183–197), and Smith (2015, 181–201).

  23. 23.

    Ben-Dor et al. (2011, e28689).

  24. 24.

    But see Lupo and Schmitt (2016, 185–197) and Smith (2015, 181–201).

  25. 25.

    E.g., Blasco et al. (2013, 124–144), Germonpré et al. (2014, 28–42), and Zhang et al. (2010, 2066–2077).

  26. 26.

    O’Connell et al. (1988, 113–161).

  27. 27.

    Agam and Barkai (2016, 218–226).

  28. 28.

    E.g., Duffy (1995).

  29. 29.

    E.g., Howell (1945, 95–103) and Köhler (2005, 407–435).

  30. 30.

    E.g., Hayashi (2008, 73–92) and Lewis (2015, 1–27).

  31. 31.

    Reshef and Barkai (2015, 28–34).

  32. 32.

    Han et al. (2017, 75–83), Li et al. (2017, 452–462), and Zhu et al. (2018, 608).

  33. 33.

    E.g., Zeitoun et al. (2015, 413–427; 2016, 12–26), Rink et al. (2008, 377–387), and Wei et al. (2017, 121–128).

  34. 34.

    Wei et al. (2017, 121–128).

  35. 35.

    Schepartz et al. (2005, 271–282) and Schepartz and Miller-Antonio (2010, 1–14).

  36. 36.

    Zhang et al. (2010, 2066–2077).

  37. 37.

    Wei et al. (2017, 121–128).

  38. 38.

    E.g., Guenther (2015, 277–315), Lewis-Williams and Biesele (1978, 117–134), and Russell (2017, 192–208).

  39. 39.

    E.g., Tanner (2014), Betts et al. (2012, 621–645), McNiven and Feldman (2003, 169–194), Russell (2017, 192–208), and Živaljević (2015, 675–699).

  40. 40.

    E.g., Tanner (2014).

  41. 41.

    E.g., Tanner (2014, 216).

  42. 42.

    Conneller (2004, 37–56).

  43. 43.

    Finkel and Barkai (2018, 1–19).

  44. 44.

    E.g., Gao and Guan (2018, 132–140), Li et al. (2017, 452–462), and references therein.

  45. 45.

    E.g., Claud (2008, 546; 2012, 413–439), Jones (1980, 153–165), Keeley (1980, 160–170), Machin et al. (2007, 883–893), Mitchell (1996, 64–69, and Solodenko et al. (2015, e0118572).

  46. 46.

    E.g., Dominguez-Rodrigo et al. (2001, 289–299).

  47. 47.

    E.g., Jones (1980, 153–165; 1981, 189–195; 1989, 68–82), Key and Lycett (2015, 911–927; 2017, 514–541).

  48. 48.

    Finkel and Barkai (2018, 1–19).

  49. 49.

    E.g., Ben-Dor et al. (2011, e28689; 2016, 367–378), Domínguez-Rodrigo and Pickering (2017, 129–152), and Zink and Lieberman (2016, 500–503).

  50. 50.

    Zutovski and Barkai (2016, 227–238) for details.

  51. 51.

    E.g., Gingerich and Stanford (2018, 289–293).

  52. 52.

    see Slodenko et al. (2015, e0118572) for details.

  53. 53.

    Goren-Inbar et al. (1994, 99–112).

  54. 54.

    Slodenko et al. (2015, e0118572).

  55. 55.

    E.g., Agam and Barkai (2016, 218–226), Blasco et al. (2013, 124–144), Germonpré et al. (2008, 475–492), Iakovleva et al. (2012, 86–93), Kufel-Diakowska et al. (2016, 122–133), Rabinovich et al. (2012, 183–197), and Smith (2015, 181–201).

  56. 56.

    E.g., Bocherens (2011, 73–85), Bocherens et al. (2015, 73–85), Drucker et al. (2017, 6833), and Naito et al. (2016, 82–90).

  57. 57.

    E.g.,Blasco et al. (2013, 124–144), Germonpré et al. (2014, 28–42), and Zhang et al. (2010, 2066–2077).

  58. 58.

    Especially regarding elephant heads, see Agam and Barkai (2016, 218–226).

  59. 59.

    E.g., Key and Lycett (2015, 911–927; 2017, 514–541).

  60. 60.

    E.g., Claud (2012, 413–439).

  61. 61.

    Barkai and Gopher (2013, 115–137).

  62. 62.

    E.g., Gaudzinski et al. (2005, 179–194), Boschian and Saccà (2010, 3–16; 2015, 288–296), Costa (2010, 23–41), Anzidei et al. (2012, 171–187), Echassoux (2012, 291–320), Rabinovich et al. (2012, 183–197), Saccà (2012, 27–41), Beyene et al. (2013, 1584–1591), and Wei et al. (2017, 121–128).

  63. 63.

    Costa (2010, 23–41).

  64. 64.

    Zutovski and Barkai (2016, 227–238).

  65. 65.

    Apart from the case in China, in which no data is available mostly since the deposits were damaged in recent times, see Wei et al. (2017, 121–128).

  66. 66.

    Zutovski and Barkai (2016, 227–238).

  67. 67.

    In the spirit of the arguments suggested in Tanner (2014).

  68. 68.

    Tanner (2014, 261).

  69. 69.

    Wei et al. (2017, 121–128).

  70. 70.

    Ben-Dor et al. (2011, e28689).

  71. 71.

    Reshef and Barkai (2015, 28–34).

  72. 72.

    Webb and O’Neill (2008, 28–36).

  73. 73.

    Reshef and Barkai (2015, 28–34).

  74. 74.

    O’Dea (1991, 233–241).

  75. 75.

    Ben-Dor et al. (2011, e28689).

  76. 76.

    Koster et al. (2010, 219–242).

  77. 77.

    Agam and Barkai (2018, 3) and Ben-Dor et al. (2011, e28689).

  78. 78.

    Smith et al. (1974, 1145–1146).

  79. 79.

    Guil-Guerrero et al. (2014, e84480).

  80. 80.

    Goren-Inbar et al. (1994, 99–112).

  81. 81.

    Piperno and Tagliacozzo (2001, 230–236).

  82. 82.

    Rabinovich et al. (2012, 183–197).

  83. 83.

    Solodenko et al. (2015, e0118572).

  84. 84.

    Valensi (2001, 260–264).

  85. 85.

    Chazan and Horwitz (2006, 436–447).

  86. 86.

    Blasco and Fernandez Peris (2012, 16–31).

  87. 87.

    Germonpré et al. (2014, 475–492).

  88. 88.

    Nikolskiy and Pitulko (2013, 4189–4197).

  89. 89.

    Fladerer (2003, 135–158).

  90. 90.

    Smith (2015, 181–201).

  91. 91.

    Schepartz et al. (2005, 271–282) and Schepartz and Miller-Antonio (2010, 1–14).

  92. 92.

    Schepartz and Miller-Antonio (2010, 1–14).

  93. 93.

    Schepartz and Miller-Antonio (2010, 1–14).

  94. 94.

    Agam and Barkai (2016, 218–226).

  95. 95.

    Zhang et al. (2010, 2066–2077).

  96. 96.

    Zhang et al. (2010, 2066–2077: Table 4).

  97. 97.

    Zhang et al. (2010, 2073).

  98. 98.

    Zhang et al. (2010, 2076).

  99. 99.

    Zhang et al. (2010, 2076).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ran Barkai

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  1. Ran Barkai
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Asian Studies, The University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Rotem Kowner

  2. Zinman Institute of Archaeology, The University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Guy Bar-Oz

  3. Institute of Asian and African Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Michal Biran

  4. Department of East Asian Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Meir Shahar

  5. Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Gideon Shelach-Lavi

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Barkai, R. (2019). When Elephants Roamed Asia: The Significance of Proboscideans in Diet, Culture and Cosmology in Paleolithic Asia. In: Kowner, R., Bar-Oz, G., Biran, M., Shahar, M., Shelach-Lavi, G. (eds) Animals and Human Society in Asia. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24363-0_2

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