With their heavy, thickset bodies and slow-witted reputation, Neanderthals are thought to have been fairly cumbersome hunters.

But new forensic analysis of the hunting grounds where these prehistoric human relatives are known to have killed their prey has revealed they were in fact brilliant tacticians.

Researchers have found evidence that Neanderthal hunting parties used the landscape to give them the advantage over their fleet-footed prey.

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Forensic analysis of Ice Age 'kill sites' where Neanderthals are thought to have hunted prey has provided remarkable insight into how these early human relatives made tactical use of the landscape to help them ambush prey (artist's impression of Neanderthals hunting an auroch pictured)

This allowed them to slaughter large numbers of animals before then choosing to butcher only the best ones.

It contrasts sharply with the hunting tactics thought to have been employed by early modern humans from our own species, Homo sapiens.

THE NEANDERTHAL DIET A recent study revealed Neanderthals snacked on a wide range of meats, but a fifth of their diet consisted of plants. Fossils taken from excavations sites in Belgium's Grotte de Spy, or Spy Cave, revealed a vast array of animals lived there 45,000 to 40,000 years ago. Bones of mammoths, woolly rhinos, wild horses, reindeer, European bison, cave hyenas, bears and lions as well as the remains of wolves were found alongside the remains of some Neanderthals. Based on isotope studies of the collagen found in the Neanderthal bones, the researchers were able to show that their diet was markedly different from that of other predatory animals. They appear to have primarily fed on large herbivorous mammals such as mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses. Studies of the isotope composition of individual amino acids in the collagen also offered proof that plant matter constituted approximately 20 percent of their diet. Advertisement

Built for distance running, it is thought bands of Homo sapiens isolated and chased down individual prey until they tired enough to be killed.

Neanderthals, however, were much more heavily built than their Homo sapien cousins and are thought to have been far slower.

Instead, it appears they herded their prey, which were often large herbivores like reindeer, horses, rhinos and bison, into areas where they could easily ambush them.

Professor Mark White, a Palaeolithic archaeologist at Durham University told MailOnline that Neanderthals appeared to repeatedly use the same 'kill sites'.

The remains of animals found at these sites suggests the hunters killed herd animals almost indiscriminately and then selectively butchered the fattest animals.

He said: 'Neanderthals were very adept at spotting places within their home range where animals could be disadvantaged - cul-de-sacs, bottlenecks, charts depressions, precipices, blind corners.

'They used the animals flight behaviour to manipulate them into these places, where they killed as many animals as they could get or wanted.

'Most prey species were larger and faster and some dangerous than Neanderthals. Most occurred in greater numbers too.

The researchers analysed several sites thought to be Neanderthal hunting grounds, including one where bison had been killed in Garonne France. Here it appears the Neanderthals drove the animals up against a limestone escaprment (illustrated) where they trampled each other in panic and were easier for the Neanderthals to kill

Neanderthals (reconstruction pictured) are often portrayed as slow, heavy set and dull witted, but the new research suggests they were actually brilliant tacticians when it came to hunting, using the landscape around them and knowledge about their prey's behaviour to launch devastating ambushes

Neanderthals are known to have used stone blades and points (example pictured) which they fixed to long spears or lances. These would have allowed them to deliver killing blows to their much larger and stronger prey whilte still remaining at a relatively safe distance

'Ambushing prey was a way of turning things to their advantage with the element of surprise and forced panic eliminating the speed and size advantage the animals naturally had.'

Professor White and his colleagues outline their their findings in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.

They describe Neanderthals as being 'careful tacticians, casual executioners and discerning diners'.

For the study, the scientists examined several sites where large collections of ice age animal bones have been discovered and are thought to have been victims of Neanderthal hunts.

HUNTING TACTICS USED BY NEANDERTHALS Taxon Site Hunting tactics: Locating the prey Hunting tactics: Disadvantaging the prey Hunting tactics: Exploitation of prey behaviour Hunting tactics: Killing techniques Hunting strategy Butchery practices Bison Mauran Predictable autumn rutting and feeding grounds Use of topography as natural trap Exploits flight behaviour Unselective killing of mixed herd Driving and trapping Selection of choicest fat, fillets and rump Aurochs La Borde Animals probably present in region all year-round Use of topography as natural trap Exploits flight behaviour Unselective killing of mixed herd Driving and trapping Little evidence of selection Rhino Taubach Animals predictably attracted to springs as water sources and salt licks Use of topography for concealment and observation Exploits inexperienced calves separated from mothers Selective killing of calves when opportunity presents itself Stalking and ambush Butchery of selected individuals Horse Zwolen Animal movements predicted by the distribution of their resources Use of topography (bottleneck) as means of disadvantaging and ambushing Exploitation of flight behaviour Unselective killing of mixed herd Driving and ambush Selection of choicest meat Reindeer Salzgitter-Lebenstedt Predictable (i.e. known) autumn migration route Use of topography (valley) to channel prey Exploits avoidance behaviour possible use of noise to ‘attract’ reindeer Unselective killing of mixed herd Driving and ambush Selection of largest & fattest individuals

By examining the behaviour of modern animals when pursued by predators or when being herded, the researchers were able to reconstruct what may have happened in each landscape.

For example, they found that an assemblage of 4,150 bison bones from 137 individuals found in Mauran, France, appeared to be at a post-rut feeding ground when they were killed.

Professor White and his team said: 'Neanderthals repeatedly used the natural topography of Mauran–a cul-de-sac with open vegetation and marshy ground – to disadvantage bison.

'Exploiting their own flight behaviour to engineer a stampede, cow herds were driven against the limestone rocks, where they became a frightened mass of bison flesh, individuals concerned only with their own escape.

ARE OUR ALLERGIES THE LAST LAUGH OF THE NEANDERTHALS Between one and six per cent of the DNA carried by people from Europe, and much of Asia, has been inherited from Neanderthals or their ancient cousins the Denisovans. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have now identified three distinct genetic variations from Neanderthals that play a role in allergies. These genes produce proteins known as Toll-like receptors, which are an important part of the innate immune system that provides the first line of defence against infections. However, faults in this immune response also lead to allergies as immune cells react to non-harmful substances such as pollen, food, dust or animal hair. The researchers said three Neanderthals genes which produce proteins called TLR 6, TLR1 and TLR10 all seem to be associated with, and increase, allergic disease in large numbers of people. Advertisement

'At this point, the panicked animals were just as likely to inflict injury on their own young as were the Neanderthal hunters, who nevertheless set about killing any animals that came into close range using hand-held spears or lances.'

Horse remains found in Zwolen, Poland, also suggest Neanderthals targeted harem groups by driving the naimals down a grassy floodplain into natural bottlenecks produced by the river and cliffs.

The horses would have fled in a predictable straight line into the path of an ambush party waiting out of sight at the bottleneck, who were able to slaughter the animals as they attempted to scale the steep valley sides or scattered into the river.

Reindeer remains found at Salzgitter, Lebenstedt, Germany, were also killed in a similar way by intercepting the herd as they made their way towards their rutting ground.

Members of the Neanderthal group would have worried the animals, driving them into the mouth of a tributary to the main valley where they were then ambushed.

Every dead animal was skinned, but only the fattest individuals were butchered while the rest of the carcasses were left to rot.

Writing in the journal, the researchers said: 'When pursuing large numbers of animals, the final stages in Neanderthal hunts were marked by chaos, a killing frenzy that precluded any on-the-spot targeting of individuals.

'It was all that Neanderthals could do to spear, indiscriminately, those unfortunate individuals who came within the effective ranges of their weapons, probably during a few terrifying minutes in which the animals were in as much danger from their conspecifics as their Neanderthal hunters.

The new findings are part of a growing body of evidence that suggests Neanderthals (artist's impression pictured) were much more sophisticated than early depictions suggested. They were adept hunters, able to slaughter large numbers of animals before taking their pick of the meat from the carcasses

'It was only once the kill was complete that Neanderthals decided which carcasses to process, and which to ignore.'

Professor White added that most of the animals the Neanderthals would have been skinned to obtain their precious fur but they only took the best cuts of meat from their prey.

He told MailOnline: 'The picky eating line reflects two things - first Neanderthals killed more than they needed, because they did not possess technology sufficient to grant them the luxury of targeting individuals.

Neanderthals (skull pictured) are thought to have died out around 40,000 years ago, shortly after modern humans moved into Europe from Africa. It is thought a combination of climate change and competition from the new arrivals led to them becoming extinct

'I don't think they were wasteful savages, and we are not suggesting that they always wiped out entire groups, they just hit any animals they could in a few brief minutes and many would inevitable escape.'

However, in some cases the Neanderthals also targeted lone animals.

Rhinoceros bones close to Taubach in Weimar, Germany, also appear to have come from calves that were killed by Neandethals.

The researchers conclude the hunters concealed themselves in the scrubby vegetation around the pools that were scattered around the surrounding marshland.

They would then wait quietly downwind of wallowing rhinos for a calf to become separated from its mother.

Professor White and his colleagues wrote: 'They then struck, exploiting the rhinos' poor eyesight and using long thrusting lances to deliver a fatal wound.

Based on ethnographic parallels, the Neanderthal hunters may then have retreated to wait until the animal expired, wary that the mother may come crashing through the brush at any second to aid her striken calf, whose screams would have been heard throughout the Eemian forest.'