This discovery is the first direct evidence that Neanderthals hunted cave lions, and the oldest evidence that hominids killed large predators. However, according to zooarchaeologist Gabriele Russo and his team, this behavior may have started much earlier in Neanderthals, as revealed in Scientific Reports.

Stab wounds on the rib bones of the cave lion skeleton, which was excavated in 1985, resemble marks from a wooden spear impact. Based on the angle of the wounds, the hunter approached the lion, possibly an old male lion, from behind and stabbed it in the lower abdomen while lying on the right side.