Weapons, Tools and Technology: The Wooden Finds from the Spear Horizon (Schöningen 13II-4)

The former lakeshore site Schöningen dating to Marine Isotope Stage 9 (c. 300,000 years ago) is an outstanding environmental archive of the Middle Pleistocene and provides unique insights into past hunter-gatherer lifeways. The extraordinary discovery of the first completely preserved wooden weapons of humankind represents a hallmark of prehistoric research that considerably changed our perspective on early hominins. Since 2021 a research team has systematically analysed the wooden assemblage from the famous Spear Horizon (Schöningen 13 II-4) with financial support of German Research Foundation (DFG). For the first time, this volume provides an overview of the well-preserved material which is the largest Palaeolithic wood assemblage worldwide. The study brings to light 188 wooden artefacts made of spruce, larch, and pine. A minimum of 25 hunting weapons is recognised including spears, throwing sticks and numerous point and shaft fragments. With a particular focus on woodworking technology and tool recycling, the new findings bear implications for the interpretation of Schöningen as a hunting/butchering site. Moreover, the study allows new insights into human evolution and cognitive capacity c. 300,000 years ago.