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#arctic #arrows #canids #canine #dogs #elephant #flint #gouache #history #hunters #hunting #iceage #mammoth #mammoths #neolithic #paleolithic #prehistoric #prehistory #scientific #sketch #spears #steppe #stoneage #tundra #tusks #watercolor #wolfdogs #wolves #earlyman
Published: 2016-06-10 07:55:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 9328; Favourites: 214; Downloads: 38
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Description
This image was inspired by a paper (Shipman 2015) proposing that unusually high numbers of mammoth kills by late Ice Age humans may have been enabled by the domestication of hunting dogs. The theory doesn't really hold water (African wild dogs do not hunt elephants today), but the idea sparked my imagination and I felt compelled to illustrate this dramatic scene anyway.Mock up article spread for natural history illustration class.
Watercolours, gouache, pencil.
Related images / sketches:
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Comments: 35
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Would you be interested in working on illustrations for an as yet unpublished book?
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If you are interested in commissioning work from me please email your proposal to pip@oxpecker.de
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Awesome, I'll email when I've finished up and know numbers etc.
Out of interest how much would do you charge for comissions?
J
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That depends on the project, but I generally don't do any coloured paintings for less than $200 these days. The rights to publish such an artwork will incur additional costs.
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the picture is splendid, no doubt about that.
Β but the idea cavemen hunted mammoths with the help of dogs is a romantic flaw.
the oldest domesticated dogs dates from after the start of agreculture.
dog probably got domesticated as a byproduct of the fact that wolfcubs were kept for food.
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Thank you. Yes I am aware of this. Here is my explanation that I posted on other social media:
"This image was inspired by a paper (Shipman 2015) proposing that unusually high numbers of mammoth kills by late Ice Age humans may have been enabled by the domestication of hunting dogs. The theory doesn't really hold water (African wild dogs do not hunt elephants today), but the idea sparked my imagination and I felt compelled to illustrate this dramatic scene anyway."
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Good pups! This is a cool theory, nice and logical.
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This is stunning!
The textures are particularly gorgeous!
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This and your related images have been fantastic! They remind me a lot of NatGeo illustration spreads. 
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That's a very high compliment!
I study Natural History Illustration at the University of Newcastle, Australia.
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Others have already brought up the points I intended to comment on regarding color and texture, but a comment must still be made to convey my artistic appreciation of this
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Thank you for such kind comments!
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re the text: I'm no specialist but I don't see it. I mean, mammoths were bigger than elephants, and do you see african or indian canids hnting elephants ? The only predators to target elephants or known to have targeted mastodon are tigers - solitary predators striking from ambush.
This tactic of canids works very well against medium-sized prey, like deers or horses, possibly ( I'm not sure ) american buffaloes. But I don't see any elephant or related falling for it and fleeing before canids - they'd stand their ground and smash any canids who'd come too close under their feet and with their trunks.
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"mammoths were bigger than elephants"
Columbian mammoths, yes. But woolly mammoths were about the same size as African elephants, if not smaller.
Also, mammoths ARE elephants, since they're in the Elephantidae family.
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It seems you're right about the size, at any rate Wikipedia says so; looks like I let rule of cool influence me XD.
"bigger than present-day elephants" if you prefer that formulation.
Still, I'm pretty sure my argument stands in that ( to the best of my knowledge ) no pack of canids in the wild attacks elephants - they go for smaller prey easier to bring down. A group of them can expect to bring down a n elk or bovine, but an elephant ? Probable serious losses for little expectations of gainβ¦
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You make a good point, and I find myself agreeing.
The idea behind the illustration is not my own. My task was to illustrate a scenario put forward by Pat Shipman. You can read her statement here - science.psu.edu/news-and-eventβ¦
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that being said, you did good with what you had to work with imo
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thanks a lot for the link - I wasn't aware of those mammoths death sites ( what did I say, I'm no expert )
Thinking again, the technique might, possibly, have worked if the humans had used fire to scare the mammoths and then harassed them with canids ?? It would take a prety high degree of cooperation however ( and shouldn't there be traces of fire at the sites ? Then again, no expert )
Also, it would assume 1/ that mammoths would be uniformly scared of fire ( i.e. not furious ) and hadn't gotten used to the trick in the 30.000 years interval
2/ and most basically, that those mammoths WERE killed by hunters. After all, from a hunter's point of view, killing 1 or 2 or 3 provides a lot of meat - why kill hundreds at one time ? Just for the sake of making buildings out of tusks ? ( alright, there have been weirder things in history, but still )
It would make more sense to me if they had died because of a virusβ¦
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This is soooo epic! 
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This is amazing Pip. The textures and colours work so well together, I especially like how you can easily divide it into two colour groups, earth vs. sky, but still having the dogs carry on the sky colours.
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Thank you for such an encouraging and thoughtful comment!
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Oh my goodness. O__O all the detail on here is just amazing! β₯ Such gorgeous colors! The background is absolutely amazing! The texture is so earthly and lovely.
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Thank you so much for the kind words, as always!
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