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Presumably there would have been a giant feast afterwards because the meat doesn't keep. Would have been fun to attend.

londons_explore 7y ago
I'd be interested to see ancient solutions to this. For example, if you were to tie the mammoth down, you might be able to cut off a few legs and eat them, while bandaging up the mammoth to keep it alive for a week or so till you kill it and eat the rest.
- thrower123 7y ago
  I can't imagine trying to deal with a mammoth. Especially with only stone cutting tools. The only thing I can think of would be luring one near a winter camp and killing it nearby, when it would be cold enough to keep or freeze. Even if you could butcher the several tons of meat and get it dried or smoked in time, transport and storage would be huge problems. It's enough of an ordeal to process a moose, with modern tools and machinery.
  - burtonator 7y ago
    > Especially with only stone cutting tools. If they were using obsidian other than the issue of constantly having to knap new blades it should have been somewhat easy to work with. The only reason we don't use this in modern times is that the blades break apart over the long term.
    - chopin 7y ago
      Nevertheless, there are ceramic blades for sale. I don't own them but I can imagine that they are more difficult to sharpen.
- GuiA 7y ago
  There’s a device called Burger on the Go which allows one to obtain six hamburgers (or twelve sliders) from a horse without killing the animal.
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
Meat keeps just fine in winter as long as you don't let other animals get to it. Foraging/gathering plant based food is also much less productive in winter. If you kill it at the right time it will feed you until spring. That said I think that approach won't work well with the climate in Mexico.
blendo 7y ago
Perhaps they used salt as a preservative?
j8014 7y ago
I would assume that they setup shop prior to hunting and it was a whole group/village affair to process and preserve the meat. When I grew up we would hunt and process all the deer killed together as a family. I started around 6yrs old, my duties were removing the "silver skin" with a fillet knife and doing any other menial task like manually cranking the meat grinder. Everyone had tasks, and it was a pretty great family/bonding experience with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was the same for all the other food we would harvest and preserve. I miss those times.

I'd be interested to see ancient solutions to this. For example, if you were to tie the mammoth down, you might be able to cut off a few legs and eat them, while bandaging up the mammoth to keep it alive for a week or so till you kill it and eat the rest.

thrower123 7y ago
I can't imagine trying to deal with a mammoth. Especially with only stone cutting tools. The only thing I can think of would be luring one near a winter camp and killing it nearby, when it would be cold enough to keep or freeze. Even if you could butcher the several tons of meat and get it dried or smoked in time, transport and storage would be huge problems. It's enough of an ordeal to process a moose, with modern tools and machinery.
- burtonator 7y ago
  > Especially with only stone cutting tools. If they were using obsidian other than the issue of constantly having to knap new blades it should have been somewhat easy to work with. The only reason we don't use this in modern times is that the blades break apart over the long term.
  - chopin 7y ago
    Nevertheless, there are ceramic blades for sale. I don't own them but I can imagine that they are more difficult to sharpen.
GuiA 7y ago
There’s a device called Burger on the Go which allows one to obtain six hamburgers (or twelve sliders) from a horse without killing the animal.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

Meat keeps just fine in winter as long as you don't let other animals get to it. Foraging/gathering plant based food is also much less productive in winter. If you kill it at the right time it will feed you until spring. That said I think that approach won't work well with the climate in Mexico.

blendo 7y ago

Perhaps they used salt as a preservative?

j8014 7y ago

I would assume that they setup shop prior to hunting and it was a whole group/village affair to process and preserve the meat. When I grew up we would hunt and process all the deer killed together as a family. I started around 6yrs old, my duties were removing the "silver skin" with a fillet knife and doing any other menial task like manually cranking the meat grinder. Everyone had tasks, and it was a pretty great family/bonding experience with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was the same for all the other food we would harvest and preserve. I miss those times.