Schöningen Spears ( him. Schöninger Speere ) - 8 copies of wood , found during excavations from 1994 to 1998 under the guidance of Dr. H. Tim in a shallow brown coal mine in Schöningen ( Germany ). The spears date back about 300,000 years ago and are the oldest fully preserved weapons for hunting. They are considered the most important evidence of a Heidelberg man ’s conscious hunt . These findings have completely changed the current understanding of the cultural and social development of ancient man .
Content
Finds
For the manufacture of spear number 4 used pine , all the rest were made of narrow straight trunks of young spruce . Sedimentary deposition warped all spears. Their length varies between 1.80 and 2.50 m. They are carefully processed and testify to high technological mastery and craft tradition. Like modern copies for throwing , used in sports competitions, their center of gravity is in the front third of the rod. With the experiments, the athletes managed to throw exact copies of these guns at a distance of 70 meters .
Along with the spears, several stone artifacts and more than 10,000 animal bones were found , 90 percent of which belong to wild horses . Among others, there are red deer and bison . The remains of horses belong to the genus Equus and are presumably descended from 20 individuals of the species Equus mosbachensis . They carry traces of cuts made by stone tools , and only a few are predators . In addition, other exceptional finds were made, like a charred stick (" spit ") and at both ends of a pointed wooden cannon, which, perhaps, was used as a stick for throwing at the beast. The head of the excavation, H. Time, interprets the findings as an action of hunting and cutting meat. Studies involving athletes have shown the ability to throw accurate replicas of copies with high speed and accuracy at a distance of up to 20 meters [1] .
Schöningen Lances Center
In 2009, Lower Saxony allocated funds to support the creation of the Schöningen Lances Scientific and Educational Center. Located near the site of the excavation site, the center will be devoted to interdisciplinary research of Pleistocene archeology . The results of research as well as the finds of the century - the Shöningensky spears - will be presented in a modern and fascinating exhibition . At the same time, museum guests have a unique opportunity to take part in laboratory research. If you wish, you can visit the pasture of wild horses and relax in the park with numerous plants, known to us for over 300,000 years. The cognitive center offers an extensive program for adults and children, as well as for schoolchildren.
Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege [2] takes the lead role in the implementation of this project. It is the body responsible for the protection of cultural monuments in Lower Saxony. Opening of the center is expected in late 2012.
Notes
- ↑ Annemieke Milks, David Parker, Matt Pope . Hand-thrown spears: Experimental ballistics of human evolution. Scientific Reports, Friday 25 January 2019
- ↑ Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege