Schöninger Speere
Encyclopedia
The Schöningen Spears are 8 wooden throwing spears from the Palaeolithic Age, that were found under the management of Dr. Hartmut Thieme from the Lower Saxony State Service for Cultural Heritage (NLD) between 1994 and 1998 in the open-cast
lignite
mine, Schöningen
, county Helmstedt
, Germany
, together with approx. 16,000 animal bones
. More than 300,000 years old, they are the oldest completely preserved hunting weapons in the world and they are regarded as the first evidence of the active hunt
by Homo heidelbergensis
. These discoveries have permanently changed the picture of the cultural and social development of early man
.
of the quaternary
surface layer
from 1992 to 2009.
The 60 m x 50 m excavation base that was excluded from coal mining represents a small segment of a former littoral zone that has been visited over millennia between the Elster- and Saale ice age by humans and animals alike. The pedestal displays five massive layered sediment packages
that were created by varying levels of the lake and silting up processes.
Thanks to the quick, airtight covering of the archaeological layers by mud, the organic materials are exceptionally well preserved. In the sequence of the sedimentary layers, climate changes
can be read with a high resolution - from a warm, dry phase to airy deciduous forests to tundra
.
The spears themselves are from an approx. 10 metres wide and 50 metres long strip parallel to the former lake shore in the sedimentary layer 4, the late Holstein-interglacial. The archaeological layers beneath have only been partially excavated and have been an objective of a research excavation by the DFG (German Research Association)
since 2010.
Together with the spears some stone artefacts, chips as well as over 10.000 animal bones were found, amongst them 90% horse
bones, followed by red deer
and european bison. The horse bones come from Equus mosbachensis and are indicative of at least 20 individuals. They show numerous cut marks made by stone tools, but only a few bite marks made by animals. The site is interpreted by the excavator Harald Thieme as testimony of a hunting event as well as the following cutting up and preparation of the prey. According to his scenario, the thick reeds
at the lake shore gave the hunters cover, from where the horses, trapped between hunters and lake, were culled with accurate spear throws. Because there are bones of young animals amongst the horse bones, he concludes that the hunt took place in autumn. Furthermore he sees evidence of ritualistic activity, because the spears were left behind.
pressure, are made from slim, straight spruce
stems – except for spear IV which is made from pine
wood. Their dimensions are between 1.8 and 2.5 metres.
They have been worked very thoroughly and are evidence of highly developed technological skills and of workmanlike tradition. Like in today’s tournament javelins
, the greatest diameter and therefore its centre of gravity is in the front third of the shaft. The tips are worked symmetrically from the base of the stems, the end of the tips were worked beside the medullary ray
, the weakest part of the stem, on purpose.
In their throwing qualities, the wooden Schoeningen spears are equal to today’s tournament javelins
. During tests, athletes could throw true to original replicas up to 70 metres. The choice of the wood is likely to be climatically determined, because during the cooler climate near the end of the interglacial
, conifers grew close to the site of the finds.
) as well as a wooden tool, tapered at both ends, interpreted as a throwing stick
. The stone tools at the place of discovery consist of different scraper
-shaped and pointed forms. Evidence of blank production is missing; much retouched
debris proves the reworking of the brought-along tools.
Also sensational are the so called grooved wooden tools, excavated at the place of discovery no. 12. Made from the extremely hard wooden branch
-bases of the European silver fir and noticably incised at one end, they may have been used as a mounting for stone blades
. If this interpretation is correct, they are the oldest composite tools of mankind
.
Thanks to the good preservation conditions, at the place of discovery there are many finds of small animals, among them small mammals, fish
, molluscs and insects. Together with the carpological remains
they make a detailed reconstruction of the climate
and the environment of the passing of an interglacial
possible.
of early man
. So the wide-spread research opinion according to which Homo heidelbergensis
and even the much younger Neanderthal
were primitive beings without language
that lived of plants and carrion
could be refuted. Because the spears and their correlation of finds are evidence of highly developed technological skills and are the first obvious proof for an active (big game)hunt
. A successful hunt for quickly fleeing gregarious animals without sophisticated hunting strategies, a complex social structure
and developed forms of communication (language ability) is unthinkable. The Homo heidelbergensis
already had intellectual and cognitive skills like anticipatory planning thinking and acting that so far has only been attributed to modern man
.
Since 2010, the excavations on top of the excavation base continued in the framework of a project by the Lower Saxony State Service for Cultural Heritage in Hannover and the Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology of the Institute of Pre- and Protohistory and Mediaeval Archaeology, supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Association)
. Numerous cooperation partners domestic and abroad are involved in the reprocessing and the evaluation of the excavations: Rijksuniversiteit Leiden (Paleontology), Leuphana University Lueneburg(Palynologie) , Senckenberg Research Institute and Nature Museum in Frankfurt a. Main, Leibniz University Hannover(Geology), Institute for Quarternary Lumbers Langnau (wood anatomy), Romano-Germanic Central Museum Mainz and others.
2009 Lower Saxony
allocated public funds from the increased funds for the economy package II for the construction of a research and development centre. The centre, close to the place of discovery, will be devoted to the inter-disciplinary research of the Schoeningen places of discovery as well as to the Pleistocene
archaeology and present the original finds in an experience-orientated, modern exhibition. The transparent research and laboratory area as well as an interactive visitor’s laboratory link the areas “research” and “museum”. Environmental habitats will visualize in a 24 hectare outdoor area typical plant communities of the interglacial
, among them a pasture
for wild horse
s. The place has been planned as an extracurricular place of learning. Building contractor is the town of Schoeningen. Responsible for the conception and contentual planning is the Lower Saxony State Service of Cultural Heritage. The centre will be opened at the beginning of 2013.
(England), Torralba
(Spain), Ambrona
(Spain) and Bad Cannstatt (Germany/Baden-Wuerttemberg), where only the wood interpreted as lance fragment from Clacton-on-Sea is preserved. The artefact character of the calcified lumbers from the place of discovery Bilzingsleben is debatable. The wooden stabbing lance from Lehringen, also from Lower Saxony
, was found underneath the skeleton of a Straight-tusked Elephant
and is aged approximately 125,000 years, so it is much younger. The elephant was possibly killed by it.
Open-pit mining
Open-pit mining or opencast mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow....
lignite
Lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
mine, Schöningen
Schöningen
Schöningen is a town of about 13,000 inhabitants in the district of Helmstedt, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located near the border with Saxony-Anhalt, on the southeastern rim of the Elm hill range...
, county Helmstedt
Helmstedt (district)
Helmstedt is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the district of Wolfenbüttel, the City of Braunschweig, the District of Gifhorn, the City of Wolfsburg and the State of Saxony-Anhalt .-Geography:The district is bounded by the Elm in the west and the Lappwald in the east...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, together with approx. 16,000 animal bones
Bone
Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...
. More than 300,000 years old, they are the oldest completely preserved hunting weapons in the world and they are regarded as the first evidence of the active hunt
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
by Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens. The best evidence found for these hominins date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. H...
. These discoveries have permanently changed the picture of the cultural and social development of early man
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
.
Discovery and location
The site of the finds (Schöningen 13/II sedimentary sequence 4) is one of 13 Palaeolithic places of discovery in the open-cast lignite mine - working area south - that was excavated in the course of the prospectionArchaeological field survey
Archaeological field survey is the method by which archaeologists search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large area...
of the quaternary
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
surface layer
Stratum
In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...
from 1992 to 2009.
The 60 m x 50 m excavation base that was excluded from coal mining represents a small segment of a former littoral zone that has been visited over millennia between the Elster- and Saale ice age by humans and animals alike. The pedestal displays five massive layered sediment packages
Sedimentation
Sedimentation is the tendency for particles in suspension to settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained, and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the forces acting on them: these forces can be due to gravity, centrifugal acceleration...
that were created by varying levels of the lake and silting up processes.
Thanks to the quick, airtight covering of the archaeological layers by mud, the organic materials are exceptionally well preserved. In the sequence of the sedimentary layers, climate changes
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
can be read with a high resolution - from a warm, dry phase to airy deciduous forests to tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
.
The spears themselves are from an approx. 10 metres wide and 50 metres long strip parallel to the former lake shore in the sedimentary layer 4, the late Holstein-interglacial. The archaeological layers beneath have only been partially excavated and have been an objective of a research excavation by the DFG (German Research Association)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...
since 2010.
Together with the spears some stone artefacts, chips as well as over 10.000 animal bones were found, amongst them 90% horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
bones, followed by red deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
and european bison. The horse bones come from Equus mosbachensis and are indicative of at least 20 individuals. They show numerous cut marks made by stone tools, but only a few bite marks made by animals. The site is interpreted by the excavator Harald Thieme as testimony of a hunting event as well as the following cutting up and preparation of the prey. According to his scenario, the thick reeds
Reed (plant)
Reed is a generic polyphyletic botanical term used to describe numerous tall, grass-like plants of wet places, which are the namesake vegetation of reed beds...
at the lake shore gave the hunters cover, from where the horses, trapped between hunters and lake, were culled with accurate spear throws. Because there are bones of young animals amongst the horse bones, he concludes that the hunt took place in autumn. Furthermore he sees evidence of ritualistic activity, because the spears were left behind.
Description
The spears, deformed by the load of the sedimentSediment
Sediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....
pressure, are made from slim, straight spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
stems – except for spear IV which is made from pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
wood. Their dimensions are between 1.8 and 2.5 metres.
They have been worked very thoroughly and are evidence of highly developed technological skills and of workmanlike tradition. Like in today’s tournament javelins
Javelin throw
The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...
, the greatest diameter and therefore its centre of gravity is in the front third of the shaft. The tips are worked symmetrically from the base of the stems, the end of the tips were worked beside the medullary ray
Medullary ray (botany)
In botany, Medullary rays refer to a characteristic found in woods. In this context the term refers to radial sheets or ribbons extending vertically through the tree across and perpendicular to the growth rings. Also called pith rays or wood rays, these formations of primarily parenchyma cells...
, the weakest part of the stem, on purpose.
In their throwing qualities, the wooden Schoeningen spears are equal to today’s tournament javelins
Javelin throw
The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...
. During tests, athletes could throw true to original replicas up to 70 metres. The choice of the wood is likely to be climatically determined, because during the cooler climate near the end of the interglacial
Interglacial
An Interglacial period is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age...
, conifers grew close to the site of the finds.
Other discoveries
More unique wooden artefacts were found at the place of discovery of the wild horse hunting camp: a charred wooden staff (skewerSkewer
A skewer is a thin metal or wood stick used to hold pieces of food together. They are used while grilling or roasting meats, and in other culinary applications....
) as well as a wooden tool, tapered at both ends, interpreted as a throwing stick
Throwing Stick
The throwing stick or throwing club is one of the first weapons used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly cracking the target with one...
. The stone tools at the place of discovery consist of different scraper
Scraper (archaeology)
In archaeology, scrapers are unifacial tools that were used either for hideworking or woodworking purposes. Whereas this term is often used for any unifacially flaked stone tool that defies classification, most lithic analysts maintain that the only true scrapers are defined on the base of...
-shaped and pointed forms. Evidence of blank production is missing; much retouched
Retouch (lithics)
Retouch - the work done to an edge of a flint implement in order to make it into a functional tool, or to reshape a used tool. In the case of a core-tool, such as a hand-axe, retouch may simply consist of roughly trimming the edge by striking with a hammerstone, but on smaller, finer flake or blade...
debris proves the reworking of the brought-along tools.
Also sensational are the so called grooved wooden tools, excavated at the place of discovery no. 12. Made from the extremely hard wooden branch
Branch
A branch or tree branch is a woody structural member connected to but not part of the central trunk of a tree...
-bases of the European silver fir and noticably incised at one end, they may have been used as a mounting for stone blades
Blade (archaeology)
In archaeology a blade is a type of stone tool created by striking a long narrow flake from a stone core.Blades are defined as being flakes that are at least twice as long as they are wide and that have parallel or subparallel sides and at least two ridges on the dorsal side...
. If this interpretation is correct, they are the oldest composite tools of mankind
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
.
Thanks to the good preservation conditions, at the place of discovery there are many finds of small animals, among them small mammals, fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, molluscs and insects. Together with the carpological remains
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
they make a detailed reconstruction of the climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
and the environment of the passing of an interglacial
Interglacial
An Interglacial period is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age...
possible.
Significance
The spears and the place of discovery Schoeningen have revolutionized the picture of the cultural and social developmentSociocultural evolution
Sociocultural evolution is an umbrella term for theories of cultural evolution and social evolution, describing how cultures and societies have changed over time...
of early man
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
. So the wide-spread research opinion according to which Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens. The best evidence found for these hominins date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. H...
and even the much younger Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
were primitive beings without language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
that lived of plants and carrion
Carrion
Carrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, coyotes, Komodo dragons, and burying beetles...
could be refuted. Because the spears and their correlation of finds are evidence of highly developed technological skills and are the first obvious proof for an active (big game)hunt
Big game hunting
Big game hunting is the hunting of large game. The term is historically associated with the hunting of Africa's Big Five game , and with tigers and rhinos on the Indian subcontinent. In North America, animals such as bears and bison were hunted...
. A successful hunt for quickly fleeing gregarious animals without sophisticated hunting strategies, a complex social structure
Social structure
Social structure is a term used in the social sciences to refer to patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of the individuals. The usage of the term "social structure" has changed over time and may reflect the various levels of analysis...
and developed forms of communication (language ability) is unthinkable. The Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens. The best evidence found for these hominins date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. H...
already had intellectual and cognitive skills like anticipatory planning thinking and acting that so far has only been attributed to modern man
Anatomically modern humans
The term anatomically modern humans in paleoanthropology refers to early individuals of Homo sapiens with an appearance consistent with the range of phenotypes in modern humans....
.
Since 2010, the excavations on top of the excavation base continued in the framework of a project by the Lower Saxony State Service for Cultural Heritage in Hannover and the Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology of the Institute of Pre- and Protohistory and Mediaeval Archaeology, supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Association)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...
. Numerous cooperation partners domestic and abroad are involved in the reprocessing and the evaluation of the excavations: Rijksuniversiteit Leiden (Paleontology), Leuphana University Lueneburg(Palynologie) , Senckenberg Research Institute and Nature Museum in Frankfurt a. Main, Leibniz University Hannover(Geology), Institute for Quarternary Lumbers Langnau (wood anatomy), Romano-Germanic Central Museum Mainz and others.
2009 Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
allocated public funds from the increased funds for the economy package II for the construction of a research and development centre. The centre, close to the place of discovery, will be devoted to the inter-disciplinary research of the Schoeningen places of discovery as well as to the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
archaeology and present the original finds in an experience-orientated, modern exhibition. The transparent research and laboratory area as well as an interactive visitor’s laboratory link the areas “research” and “museum”. Environmental habitats will visualize in a 24 hectare outdoor area typical plant communities of the interglacial
Interglacial
An Interglacial period is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age...
, among them a pasture
Pasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
for wild horse
Wild Horse
The wild horse is a species of the genus Equus, which includes as subspecies the domesticated horse as well as the undomesticated Tarpan and Przewalski's Horse. The Tarpan became extinct in the 19th century, and Przewalski's Horse was saved from the brink of extinction and reintroduced...
s. The place has been planned as an extracurricular place of learning. Building contractor is the town of Schoeningen. Responsible for the conception and contentual planning is the Lower Saxony State Service of Cultural Heritage. The centre will be opened at the beginning of 2013.
Similar finds
Wooden artefacts from the Palaeolithic age are very rarely delivered to posterity. Beside Schoeningen, finds are known from Clacton-on-SeaClacton-on-Sea
Clacton-on-Sea is the largest town on the Tendring peninsula, in Essex, England and was founded in 1871. It is a seaside resort that attracted many tourists in the summer months between the 1950s and 1970s, but which like many other British sea-side resorts went into decline as a holiday...
(England), Torralba
Torralba and Ambrona (archaeological site)
Torralba is an archaeological site in northern Spain where large mammal remains and stone tools from 400,000 years ago suggest early hominid hunting or scavenging . Torralba was a hunting and gathering community.-References:...
(Spain), Ambrona
Torralba and Ambrona (archaeological site)
Torralba is an archaeological site in northern Spain where large mammal remains and stone tools from 400,000 years ago suggest early hominid hunting or scavenging . Torralba was a hunting and gathering community.-References:...
(Spain) and Bad Cannstatt (Germany/Baden-Wuerttemberg), where only the wood interpreted as lance fragment from Clacton-on-Sea is preserved. The artefact character of the calcified lumbers from the place of discovery Bilzingsleben is debatable. The wooden stabbing lance from Lehringen, also from Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, was found underneath the skeleton of a Straight-tusked Elephant
Straight-tusked Elephant
The Straight-tusked Elephant is an extinct species of elephant closely related to the living Asian Elephant. It inhabited Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene . Some experts regard the smaller Asian species E...
and is aged approximately 125,000 years, so it is much younger. The elephant was possibly killed by it.