Schöningen Spear Horizon

Schöningen 13 II-4

Germany · Lower Saxony, Helmstedt

SettlementUnknown
Approximate periodPaleolithic See on the map ↓

In brief

The hunting and butchery site on a former lakeshore was uncovered through archaeological excavations in a lignite mine. Wooden weapons and numerous horse remains document prehistoric hunting and woodworking.

What was found?

  • 1Wooden hunting spears

    These are shaped and sharpened wooden hunting weapons. They provide direct evidence of the technology early humans used to hunt large animals.

  • 2Double-pointed throwing sticks

    These are wooden implements shorter than the spears. According to researchers, they may have been thrown during hunting; their surfaces bear traces of careful shaping and smoothing.

  • 3Processed horse remains

    The remains of hunted and butchered horses were found alongside the wooden weapons. They reveal the relationship between hunting and animal processing.

  • 4Repaired and reworked wooden tools

    These are wooden pieces whose broken tips were resharpened or which were repurposed. They show that the tools' working lives were extended through maintenance and reworking.

What does it point to?

The finds indicate detailed knowledge of wood selection and working, as well as planned hunting. The researchers behind the 2025 study propose an age of approximately 200.000 years for the spear layer and associate the finds with early Neanderthals; this dating differs from the previous estimate of approximately 300.000 years.

What did it teach us?

  1. It showed that early humans could produce sophisticated wooden weapons.
  2. It revealed that wooden tools were repaired and repurposed.
  3. According to researchers, the horse-hunting finds support coordinated hunting involving a division of tasks.
  4. The new dating study required a reassessment of interpretations concerning the age of the weapons and the human groups that made them.

Latest news / selected archive

2025: Amino acid dating of fossils suggested an age of approximately 200,000 years for the spear layer, younger than the previously widely accepted estimate.

Record

Coordinates
52.1372°, 10.9883°

Sources

  1. uni-goettingen.de
  2. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  3. en.wikipedia.org
  4. Reading Üniversitesi — Fırlatma sopası araştırması
  5. Reading Üniversitesi — Ahşap aletlerin yeniden incelenmesi
  6. Mainz Üniversitesi ve LEIZA — 2025 tarihleme çalışması

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12.000

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