Neanderthals in central Europe hunted pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) not for food, but for their shells, according to a study published in Scientific Reports in March.

Researchers examined approximately 92 125,000-year-old turtle shell fragments found at Neumark-Nord, a Paleolithic site in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. 

Using high-resolution 3D scanning, they found that many of the fragments bore cut marks on their inner surfaces, indicating that the turtles had been carefully butchered, limbs and internal organs removed, before the shell had been thoroughly cleaned.

"Our data provide the first evidence that Neanderthals also hunted and processed turtles north of the Alps, beyond the Mediterranean region," said Professor Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU).

Gaudzinski-Windheuser added that they have ruled out turtles as a food source for those who lived at the site, “given the abundance of remains from large, high-yield prey animals at the site.”

Archaeologists previously recovered over 100,000 animal bones or bone fragments at Neumark-Nord, including those from deer, cattle, horses, and the European straight-tusked elephant.

Last year, Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Dr. Lutz Kindler, and Professor Wil Roebroeks of Leiden University found that Neanderthals had operated a kind of "factory" at the site to extract fat from the bones of large mammals.

“With a weight of around one kilogram, pond turtles have a comparatively low nutritional value,” Gaudzinski-Windheuser said. "However, they are relatively easy to catch and may therefore have been hunted by children. Their shells may then have been processed into tools." 

The study also floated the possibility that the turtles had been hunted for “their taste or for an assumed medicinal value.”

"Our current results shed new light on the ecological flexibility and complex survival strategies of Neanderthals, which went far beyond simple caloric maximization,” concluded Gaudzinski-Windheuser.