Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Unimore uncovers the “secret diary” of prehistoric elephants: fossil teeth reveal new insights into hunting and mobility in the Pleistocene

The Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences (DSCG) at Unimore has led research that sheds new light on the lives of prehistoric elephants and on Neanderthal hunting practices. Published in Science Advances , the study brings together researchers working within the Department, where expertise in geochemistry, stable isotopes and palaeoproteomics is combined in an interdisciplinary approach capable of reconstructing events that took place over 100,000 years ago.

At the heart of the investigation are the fossil teeth of straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), the largest land mammals of prehistoric Europe, which lived during the last interglacial period around 125,000 years ago and were hunted by Neanderthals. Tooth enamel, which grows slowly and records environmental conditions layer by layer, has proved to be an extraordinary “biological identity card”.

“Dental enamel grows slowly and records, layer by layer, information about the environment in which the animal lived,” explains Elena Armaroli, former PhD candidate in the M3ES (Models and Methods for Material and Environmental Sciences) programme and research fellow at DSCG-Unimore, and first author of the study. “Thanks to isotopic analyses, we can track the movements of elephants almost as if we had a diary of their journeys, preserved in their teeth for over one hundred thousand years.”

The research focuses on the Neumark-Nord site in north-eastern Germany, one of the most important European palaeontological sites for P. antiquus. Here, the fossil remains of more than 70 elephants have been discovered, accumulated as a result of Neanderthal hunting and butchering activities, making the site a unique window onto the relationship between large mammals and humans in the Pleistocene.

The study combines isotopic analysis and palaeoproteomics to reconstruct the mobility, diet and sex of several individuals. Strontium isotope analyses carried out along sections of molars revealed sub-seasonal movements extending over several years of the animals’ lives. The isotopic data were collected at the FIERCE laboratory of Goethe University Frankfurt, co-directed by Professor Wolfgang Müller, the study’s senior author.

“Some of the elephants analysed were not local,” notes Professor Federico Lugli of Unimore’s DSCG and corresponding co-author. “Their teeth indicate that they travelled over very large distances—up to around 300 kilometres—before reaching the Neumark-Nord site. This allows us to reconstruct real home ranges and understand how these animals used the landscape.”

For the first time, palaeoproteomics has been applied to Palaeoloxodon antiquus, making it possible to identify the sex of four individuals—three males and one probable female—based on proteins preserved in tooth enamel. Two of the males show isotopic signatures markedly different from local ones, a behaviour reminiscent of modern elephants, in which adult males tend to range over wider territories.

“The Neanderthals of Neumark-Nord were not mere opportunists,” concludes Elena Armaroli. “The concentration of remains and the profile of the animals suggest organised hunting, targeting even enormous prey, which would have required knowledge of the landscape, cooperation and planning.”

“The study,” adds Professor Anna Cipriani of Unimore’s DSCG, “demonstrates how the most advanced biogeochemical techniques can renew our understanding of human and animal ecology in both the recent and the deep past. This is one of the aims of our MeGic laboratory (Metallomics and Geochemistry Research), where different areas of expertise come together to develop cutting-edge analytical methods.”

“The most innovative analyses, those relating to palaeoproteomics,” concludes Professor Federico Lugli, “were carried out at Unimore, in the laboratories of the Interdepartmental Centre for Large-Scale Instrumentation (CIGS), confirming the strategic role of Italian research infrastructures in internationally significant projects.”

The study also involved Théo Tacail (Caltech), Lutz Kindler, Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Fulco Scherjon (LEIZA), Wil Roebroeks (Leiden University), Glendon Parker (UC Davis), Hubert Vonhof (MPI Chem Mainz) and Thomas Tütken (JGU Mainz University), in an international collaboration that further highlights the central role of Unimore’s Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences in research published in one of the world’s leading scientific journals.

Elena Armaroli obtained her PhD in Models and Methods for Material and Environmental Sciences from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in 2025, with a project focused on isotopic analyses of fossil animal teeth to reconstruct mobility, diet and palaeoclimate. She then carried out postdoctoral research at the same university as part of the PRIN 2022 PNRR CAST project, dedicated to studying the entire process of metal production and its impact on health in prehistoric Italian societies. Since 2026, she has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of the Basque Country במסגרת the ERC Starting Grant “PalaeOrigins”, where she conducts isotopic analyses on archaeobotanical remains to investigate the origins of plant management in southwest Asia.

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