 The answer to this question may come from a new study by La Trobe University postdoctoral archaeology researcher, Jillian Garvey.
Ms Garvey will analyse animal bones excavated from one of Tasmania's most famous Ice Age sites, Kutikina Cave on the Franklin River.
The cultural heritage value of the site was one reason why the High Court of Australia in 1983 stopped work on the Gordon-below-Franklin dam that would otherwise have flooded the cave.
In 1981 Dr Kevin Kiernan, from the University of Tasmania, Professor Rhys Jones, ANU, and Mr Don Ranson of Tasmania National Parks and Wildlife, excavated 250,000 fragments of animal bones and 25,000 stone tools at the site.
Early analysis showed the bones dated back more than 20,000 years and were part of the glacial human diet, mainly Bennett's wallaby and wombat. 'However, until now, the prehistoric importance of the animal remains had not been fully realised,' Ms Garvey said.
Her research is supported by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Lands Council and a $47,000 Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies grant.
Ms Garvey, Dr Richard Cosgrove, a senior lecturer in La Trobe's Archaeology Program, and Dr Anne-Pike Tay of Vassar College, New York, will investigate the Kutikina Cave material for information about the behaviour of humans living there during the height of the last Ice Age.
Ms Garvey said that, in relation to the history of human behaviour, the contents of the cave rated in importance with material found in several caves in France.
'Analysis of the bones, stone tools and other fragments will give us information about the hunting behaviour of humans living in the area which at the time of the last Ice Age was covered in glaciers.
'We will investigate how people lived under extreme conditions in which temperatures were between minus 15 C to plus 4 C.
'We want to discover whether these people were opportunistic hunters or engaged in planned and systematic hunting, harvesting game such as wallabies and wombats.'
A recent pilot project by Dr Cosgrove at a nearby site came up with a surprising finding: humans at the time hunted in mid-winter, indicating they planned to kill animals at a time when their fur was in prime condition and they had maximum fat. This suggests that these people were not mere puppets of the environment.
An article about Dr Cosgrove's pilot study appeared in Nature Australia in December last year.
Ms Garvey will extend this line of research, to determine whether animals were taken for their bone marrow - a highly nutritious and sought after food source - or for other reasons. She will do this by closely examining bone fragments which provide evidence about butchering strategy and age of the animals.
'The bones and stone tools used can provide quite specific details about the behaviour of the humans who used them,' she said.
Ms Garvey's project is part of a La Trobe University-Vassar College project initiated by Drs Cosgrove and Pike-Tay.
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