New research has revealed how early humans living in what is now Rome skillfully butchered elephants for food and then repurposed their bones into tools.
The study, published in PLOS One on October 8, 2025, sheds light on the resourceful survival strategies of ancient humans during the Middle Pleistocene, roughly 400,000 years ago.
Archaeologists led by Beniamino Mecozzi of Sapienza University of Rome analyzed the remains of a straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon, discovered at the site of Casal Lumbroso in northwest Rome.
The bones were found alongside more than 500 stone tools, and the site’s ash layers confirm that the remains date to about 404,000 years ago—a time when the climate was warmer than today.
In total, researchers identified more than 300 elephant bones.
Many showed fractures caused by blunt force shortly after the animal’s death, evidence that humans deliberately broke the bones apart.
Surprisingly, very few bones displayed cut marks typically associated with large stone knives. Instead, most of the stone tools at the site were very small, often less than three centimeters in size.
This suggests that early humans may have used these small tools to cut away soft tissues, while relying on heavy blows to break open bones for meat and marrow.
The study also found that some of the elephant bones themselves had been reshaped into larger tools. These bone tools may have been used for digging, pounding, or processing other materials—showing that nothing from the massive animal went to waste.
This approach wasn’t unique to Casal Lumbroso. Similar patterns have been identified at other sites in central Italy, where butchered elephant remains are found alongside tiny stone tools and modified bones.
Together, they reveal a consistent strategy that early humans used to survive and thrive during periods of mild climate: exploiting elephants as both a food source and a supply of raw materials.
The findings highlight just how adaptive these ancient human groups were, even when faced with limited resources such as large stones for toolmaking.
Instead, they cleverly made do with what was available, whether it was small pieces of stone or the bones of the animals they hunted.
“Our study shows how, 400,000 years ago in the area of Rome, human groups were able to exploit an extraordinary resource like the elephant—not only for food, but also by transforming its bones into tools,” the authors wrote.
By piecing together the evidence from Casal Lumbroso, researchers are not only learning about ancient diets and technologies but also bringing to life a vanished world where humans, animals, and ecosystems were bound together in surprising and creative ways.
