Can caveman spears actually penetrate the hide of an animal?

Question

Just thinking because animal hide is tough and animals run away so they are not hurt, it would be hard to get a perfect throw at them. I would think it would be more of an intimidation factor. To either trap the animals or to scare away tigers and take their food like scavengers/hunters.

Answer 1

Yes, of course or the cave man wouldn't have survived.

Wood tips hardened in fire are pretty strong, but the invention of flint is what really gave the caveman the edge. The problem is the range. You can't throw a spear at an animal from behind the bushes and expect a good clean kill. To do that you need to get within a few feet of the animal, which means you need to stalk them well. Sometimes the cave men would trap the animal and then instead of throwing the spears they would thrust them; putting all their strength behind them.

Don't forget the cave men had to struggle to survive and they were fit and strong men so they could put more power behind their thrust than a normal man.

Obsidian, volcanic glass, can be sharpened to an edge that is sharper than a scalpel. I know of an archaeologist who convinced a doctor to perform a scheduled surgery on him using obsidian scalpels he had prepared before hand.

Answer 2

it depends on the spear and it depends on the animal hide. Some animal hides are deceptively tough such as tapirs which have very tough skins that resist punctures. Other animals are easy to puncture such as horses. So they vary widely in their ability to resist being stabbed.
As to the spear, they often burned the spear to increase it's strength or attached a stone point to the spear to increase it's cutting ability. Some stones used for this purpose were incredibly sharp and hard and held a point very well and would have been a match for any hide. I think the spear was used as a multi purpose tool both for intimidation and for actual stabbing of the animals.

Answer 3

by burning the end of the wood it strengthened the tip allowing it to be hard enough to penetrate. they also used flint which is sharp as a knife.

Answer 4

UMMMM! YAAAaaaaaa.