Schöningen site
The Schöningen site is a Paleolithic archaeological site in Germany, dating to around 300,000 years ago. It is best known for the Schöningen spears, some of the oldest known wooden spears, found in the "spear horizon", though the site as a whole covers a broader span of time.
Discovery and stratigraphy[edit]
The site was initially excavated between 1994 and 1999, after having been found at an overcast mine near Schöningen in Lower Saxony, Germany. The depositional environment is thought to have been a lakeshore, with thermoluminescence dating and uranium–thorium dating suggesting an age of the site of approximately 300,000 years ago, during an interglacial period.[1]
Spear horizon[edit]
At the so-called "spear horizon", referred to within the stratigraphic sequence as Schöningen 13 II-4, numerous remains of butchered horses belonging to the extinct species Equus mosbachensis have been found associated with wooden spears (the famous Schöningen spears), among the oldest known wooden spears,[1][2] other wood tools, including throwing sticks likely also used in hunting, as well as split woods with pointed and rounded ends have also been found at the site. The split wood tools were likely used in domestic activities like processing hide.[3] Other animals found in this layer do not display evidence of butchery, and likely accumulated naturally, these include: red deer, European wild ass, aurochs, steppe bison, wild boar, Irish elk, Merck's rhinoceros and the narrow-nosed rhinoceros,[4] straight-tusked elephant[2] grey wolves, red foxes, stoats, least weasels,[4] and the sabretooth cat Homotherium (among the youngest records of the genus in Eurasia),[5] with small mammals including pygmy shrews, desmans, and the European mole.[4]
Elephant butchery site[edit]
At layer 13 II-3, a complete skeleton of an adult female (approximately 50 year old) straight-tusked elephant was found, which were found with natural fragments of flint which have wear indicating that they were used to butcher the elephant. The site displays no evidence of hunting, and it is suggested that the elephant died of natural causes and was later scavenged by humans.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Schoch, Werner H.; Bigga, Gerlinde; Böhner, Utz; Richter, Pascale; Terberger, Thomas (December 2015). "New insights on the wooden weapons from the Paleolithic site of Schöningen". Journal of Human Evolution. 89: 214–225. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.08.004. PMID 26442632.
- ^ a b Urban, Brigitte; Krahn, Kim J.; Kasper, Thomas; García-Moreno, Alejandro; Hutson, Jarod M.; Villaluenga, Aritza; Turner, Elaine; Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Sabine; Farghaly, Dalia; Tucci, Mario; Schwalb, Antje (July 2023). "Spatial interpretation of high-resolution environmental proxy data of the Middle Pleistocene Palaeolithic faunal kill site Schöningen 13 II-4, Germany". Boreas. 52 (3): 440–458. doi:10.1111/bor.12619. ISSN 0300-9483.
- ^ Leder, Dirk; Lehmann, Jens; Milks, Annemieke; Koddenberg, Tim; Sietz, Michael; Vogel, Matthias; Böhner, Utz; Terberger, Thomas (2024-04-09). "The wooden artifacts from Schöningen's Spear Horizon and their place in human evolution". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 121 (15): e2320484121. doi:10.1073/pnas.2320484121. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 11009636. PMID 38557183.
- ^ a b c van Kolfschoten, Thijs (April 2014). "The Palaeolithic locality Schöningen (Germany): A review of the mammalian record". Quaternary International. 326–327: 469–480. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2013.11.006.
- ^ Serangeli, Jordi; Van Kolfschoten, Thijs; Starkovich, Britt M.; Verheijen, Ivo (December 2015). "The European saber-toothed cat (Homotherium latidens) found in the "Spear Horizon" at Schöningen (Germany)". Journal of Human Evolution. 89: 172–180. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.08.005. PMID 26505304.
- ^ Venditti, Flavia; Rodríguez-Álvarez, Bárbara; Serangeli, Jordi; Cesaro, Stella Nunziante; Walter, Rudolf; Conard, Nicholas J. (2022-12-15). "Using microartifacts to infer Middle Pleistocene lifeways at Schöningen, Germany". Scientific Reports. 12 (1): 21148. Bibcode:2022NatSR..1221148V. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-24769-3. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 9755147. PMID 36522355.