© NHM Vienna, C. Potter
In the Ice Age there were no supermarkets. Instead, people had to live off what they found in nature. They would hunt large animals such as mammoths, giant deer, horses, and reindeer. They also caught foxes, wolves, hares, and birds. The meat was eaten, while the furs, bones, tendons and innards were used for clothing and tools. As well as hunting, Ice Age people collected shrubs and grasses, edible plants, berries, and fruits. Bird eggs, insects, and snails were special treats.
Teeth
For Ice Age people, teeth were not only important for chewing. They were also used as tools and for holding or carrying things. Traces of this can often be found in the teeth of adult humans. Tooth decay was rare because the diet of the time had far fewer carbohydrates and therefore less sugar. This milk tooth is 30,000 years old. A small child lost it during the last ice age in Grub-Kranawetberg in Lower Austria.
Children's menu
Hunting large animals was too dangerous for young children. However, it is likely that children hunted smaller animals and took part in the daily routine of foraging and collecting.
Hunting
Animals hunted in the Ice Age were often larger and faster than the hunters themselves. This meant that hunters had to be creative. Using spears they were able to kill mammoths, reindeer, and bison.
To be able to throw their spears further, Ice Age people used spear throwers. The rear end of the spear fits exactly into the hook of the spear thrower.
A mammoth for all occasions
When a mammoth was killed, almost all parts of the animal were used. Its meat was used for food, the tanned skin for clothing, the bones as building materials for tents and, together with the sinews, for making spears, and the tusks for making jewelry or figurines.
