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| Bitte zur Vergrößerung anklicken! |
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| Contemplate the gravity of what a 400,000-year-old wooden spear means. This discovery has changed the history of mankind, has created entirely
new insights on the life of prehistoric Europeans as specialized hunters of large game. Follow a long-term research project that is indeed unparalleled
towards an interdisciplinary center of research and experience. |
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| The Schöningen Spears Project
up |
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| Only a small number of places in Europe offer favorable conditions for the discovery and mapping of remains from ice-age life. One of
these "historical sites" is located in the Braunschweig district bordering on the town of Schöningen in Helmstedt County. Since 1983, this
brown-coal mine has been the subject of intensive studies of an archaeological and paleoecological nature within the scope of a long-term
research project of the Federal State Administration for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments headed by Dr. Hartmut Thieme. Throughout this
period a large number of formerly unknown places of discovery (settlements and graves) from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages have been
successfully documented over an area of six sq. km. In addition and parallel to the mining activities, continuous quaternary geologic
and paleobotanic mapping has been undertaken. On a Central European scale these maps have provided unique and detailed references on the
genesis of this landscape as well as on the changing climatic and environmental conditions over the last 500,000 years. |
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| Until the mid 1990ies, in short succession, three lower Paleolithic settlement sites with splendidly preserved remains of fauna
from the Middle Pleistocene were excavated "Baufeld Süd", the southern mining area. In the fall of 1995, the discovery of an ancient wooden spear,
which was approximately 400,000 years old, became a worldwide sensation. In the meantime, a further six artifacts of this type as well as
thousands of large mammal bones (90 % wild horse) with frequent traces of regular incisions were discovered on this site, a site which must be
interpreted as a temporary camp for hunters on the border of a silted up lake. These findings clearly prove that early man (the ancestor of
Neanderthal man) was not solely a scavenger but was instead a specialized big game hunter. This is a completely new insight which radically
changes concepts about prehistoric Europeans and is about to unhinge long-held doctrines. In the upcoming years this globally significant
place of discovery, which is currently threatened by desertification will be further excavated and subjected to evaluation by participating
European natural scientists who are members of an interdisciplinary network. |
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| In view of the international significance of these archaeological digs, there are endeavors for a real-time presentation on the
authentic location in a "Forschungs- und Erlebniscenter", a center for research and experience, which will be part of a spacious landscape park.
The purpose of this center will be to serve to publicize research issues as well as improve the infrastructure for further excavations. A further
significant concept is the sustained exploration and respectively the "re-discovery" of a landscape in the process of being strip-mined, a site
long hidden from human sight and experience. This landscape is currently terra incognita in the double sense: on the one hand, it is a "prehistoric
landscape" which has in some ways been relegated to its initial state with a historicity of its own ("geo-archive") that encompasses hundreds and
thousands of years, and which only became temporarily visible because of the brown-coal mine; on the other hand, there is the absence of historicity
and facelessness caused by the same mining activity. A momentum of tension emerges from what seems to be a contradiction, which virtually asks for
artistic scrutiny and is accompanied by a demand for new and aesthetically challenging concepts for its avail and design. |
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| In particular, also in view of a lack of regional business alternatives, the conversion of this landscape - which will emerge from the mine
within a few years - into an attractive destination for tourism - which will be geo-oriented, cultural and industrial at the same time - seems to
be a very promising approach indeed. It will be realized under the auspices of the German national geo-park "Harz-Braunschweiger Land-Ostfalen"
(Harz-Braunschweig District Eastfalia). At the same time, a close association with the "Green Ribbon" (the so-called "no-man's-land" of former times),
a globally unique association of biotopes which runs directly along the border of the open cast pit, is deemed a trend-setter. The exploration of this
area with a focus on entertainment and nature tourism is currently being prepared on a federal as well as on a European level. |
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| Research team
up |
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| Project manager: |
Dr. Hartmut Thieme
Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege
Scharnhorststraße 1
D-30175 Hannover
Germany |
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| Geology, malakology: |
Prof. Dr. Dietrich Mania
Forstweg 29
D-07745 Jena
Germany |
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| Palaeontology (vertebrates): |
Dr. Thijs van Kolfschoten
Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden
Instituut voor Prehistorie
Postbus 9515
NL-2300 RA Leiden
Nederland
t.van.kolfschoten@rulpre.leidenuniv.nl |
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| Pollen analysis: |
Prof. Dr. Brigitte Urban
Universität Lüneburg
Herbert-Meyer-Str. 7
D-29556 Suderburg
Germany
Tel 0049 5826 988/309/202
b.urban@uni-lueneburg.de |
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| Palaeo-soils: |
Priv. Doz. Dr. habil. Manfred Altermann
Büro für Bodenökologie, Bodenkartierung und Bodenschutz
Wilhelm-Raabe-Straße 9
D-06117 Halle/Saale
Germany
buero-altermann@t-online.de |
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| Fossile wood: |
Werner H. Schoch
Labor für quartäre Hölzer
Tobelhof 13
CH-8131 Adliswil
Switzerland
holz.schoch@pop.agri.ch |
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| Plant remains: |
Prof. Dieter H. Mai
Naturhistorisches Forschungsinstitut - Museum für Naturkunde
Zentralinstitut der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin / Institut für Paläontologie
Invalidenstraße 43
D-10115 Berlin
Germany |
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| Bryophyte flora: |
Dr. A. Hölzer
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde
Botanische Abteilung
Erbprinzenstraße 13
76133 Karlsruhe
hoelzer@naturkundeka-bw.de |
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| TL Dating: |
Prof. Dr. Ludwig Zöller
Lehrstuhl für Geomorphologie
Universität Bayreuth
D-95440 Bayreuth
Germany
ludwig.zoeller@uni-bayreuth.de
Dr. Daniel Richter
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Human Evolution
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig
Germany
drichter@eva.mpg.de |
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| Wild horses: |
Prof. Rudolf Musil
Katedra geologie a paleontologie
Kotlarska 2
CR-61137 Brno
Czech Republic
rudolf@gap.muni.cz |
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Fish,
amphibians,
reptiles: |
Dr. Gottfried Böhme
Naturhistorisches Forschungsinstitut - Museum für Naturkunde
Zentralinstitut der Humboldt-Universität
zu Berlin / Institut für Paläontologie
Invalidenstraße 43
D-10115 Berlin
Germany
gottfried.boehme@museum.hu-berlin.de |
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|
The Most Ancient Spears of Mankind
by Hartmut Thieme
up |
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The Paleolithic Age is the longest period in the history of mankind. It sets out with the first simple stone tools in the
East of Africa more than 2.5 million years ago and ends in our area with the wind up of the last glacial period about 10,000 years ago. In this long
epoch gathering and hunting was the economic subsistence of man.
Stone tools of the Paleolithic Age which as a rule are considered cultural assets have been preserved in large numbers. On the other hand wooden
tools have been an extreme rarity due to conditions unfavorable to their preservation. Among the few globally renowned exceptions in Europe is a point
fragment of a lower Paleolithic lance from the Clacton-on-Sea site in Essex County (in Eastern England). It was discovered in 1911, is 38 cm in length,
made of yew wood and belongs to the mid Pleistocene Holstein-Interglacial. In 1948, a 2.4 m long wooden lance was recovered from the Lehring site
located in the Verden District in Germany. It is made of yew wood and belongs to the Eem-Interglacial, the last interglacial period of the Ice Age.
This lance had been used to kill a wood elephant approximately 120,000 years ago.
Even more important is a lower Paleolithic site which was found in 1994, in the brown-coal open-cast mine of Schöningen located near the town of
Helmstedt. Here, several wooden spears from the times of late prehistoric man (Homo erectus) and some stone tools had been preserved along with
numerous remains of large mammals, mainly horses. These spears have provided us with completely new insights into the development and culture of
early man approximately 400,000 years ago.
Since 1983 the Federal State Administration of Lower Saxony for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments in the city of Hannover, under the direction of
the author, has undertaken a large-scale archaeological dig with varied support and subsidies from the Braunschweigische Kohlen-Bergwerke AG,
a Helmstedt mining company. Up to and including the year 1991 numerous settlements and tombs from the Neolithic as well as from the Bronze and
Iron Ages (circa 5,500 AD until the time of the birth of Christ) were excavated in front of advancing bucket-wheel excavators, covering a total
of approximately 350,000 sq. meters.
Since 1992, several settlement sites from the lower Paleolithic Age have been discovered between eight to 15 m below the surface of the present
compound. They were excavated from the Pleistocene strata covering the tertiary layers. These sites, in which various types of wooden implements had
been preserved, belong to the lower Paleolithic period and provide by far the most ancient proof of human settlement in the state of Lower Saxony.
In autumn 1994, rescue excavations began in a new section of finds located in the lake-shore sediment of a peaty basin. Historical investigation into
the vegetation phases and analyses of discovered mollusks produced evidence that at the end of an interglacial this site had been characterized by
a cool temperate climate with grass and forest steppes. This newly-discovered "Reinsdorf Interglacial", is the central of three interglacial periods
which could be successfully verified in Schöningen between the Elster and Saale glacial. Until the end of 1997, about 2,000 sq. meters of this site
with far more than 30,000 remains of hunted game, primarily of horses were excavated. Numerous bones had either been smashed or bore traces of
stone-tool cutting. Among the flint-stone artifacts discovered, hundreds refitting wastes were found next to tools like scrapers and points.
At the end of 1994 a wooden tool of superior woodworking quality was excavated. It is 78 cm in length with a diameter of up to three cm and pointed
at both ends - most likely it is a throwing-stick. This find still remains unparalleled by all other finds from the entire lower Paleolithic period.
Since late summer 1995 further wooden objects of even greater significance to the cultural history of mankind have been discovered and retrieved.
These artifacts by far topped the significance of the just mentioned wooden throwing-stick. They are seven rather well preserved wooden spears that
range in length from 1.82 m to circa 2.50 m with a maximum diameter of circa 3 to 5 cm.
According to W.H. Schoch's wood type determination all spears but one had been manufactured from spruce wood, just like the tool which we had assumed
to be a throwing stick. Small trunks had been chosen for this purpose and each spear point had been worked from the base of these trunks up to partly
more than 60 cm in length. The wood of the branch roots has been carefully worked. The largest diameter and focal points of these spears are located
in the front end of the shafts. This indicates that the pieces from Schöningen are not lances but spears.
The open cast brown-coal pit in Schöningen therefore presents the most ancient completely preserved wooden spears in the world (circa 400,000 years AD).
The spears of Schöningen were discovered on a settlement site for hunters amongst numerous bones of at least 15 horses, which most likely had been hunted
down with these weapons along a lakefront. They therefore provide totally new insights into the period and the circumstances surrounding the emergence
of big game hunting during the time of Homo erectus because they are the most ancient fully preserved hunting weapons of mankind. They clearly prove
that prehistoric man (and even more so Neanderthal man who lived after him) had been a very smart hunter and had not primarily been a scavenger of
carcasses as previously held, particularly by Anglo-American pre-historians. He had been endowed with superb technical woodworking skills and, at
this early period, had therefore been able to anticipatorily plan, organize, coordinate and successfully perform a big game hunt with specific weapons.
Thus, the spears have provided subtle insights into lower Paleolithic work- and lifestyles, especially in regard to efficient ways to provide food as
well as to the cooperative actions associated with them. They have also contributed to project a new concept of early man and also of his mental and
social skills. All this in a landscape characterized by open grass and forest steppes on the northern fringe of the area of the German low-mountain
ranges and also on the threshold to the next glacial period and - according to the maximum heat index of the Reinsdorf-Interglacial - in cooler climates. |
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| Taken from: Archäologie in Niedersachsen 1, 1998, 47-49 |
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| The different find spots
up |
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Find spot 1
Esbeck, "Nachtwiesenberg", 10.500 sq. m. (1981/82), settlement of Linear Pottery Culture: earthwork with double trench (ca. 1,7 ha),
6 houses at least, settlement pits and post-holes, child burial (infans I/ca. 1 year-old) with 2 grave goods (clay vessels); crouched
inhumation of Bell Beaker Culture (man of 40-odd years with child) with relic of a copper dagger |
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Find spot 2
Esbeck, "Kakelsberg"
Settlement site of early Linear Pottery Culture and Rössen Culture |
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Find spot 3
Esbeck, ca. 52.000 sq. m (1983)
Settlement of Linear Pottery Culture: 1 house-plan (ca. 18 x 7 m), settlement pits; settlement site of Rössen Culture without any traces of
residential/farm buildings; hut (?) of Ammensleben group; pit of Single Grave Culture |
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Find spot 6
Schöningen, ca. 20.000 sq. m (1984)
Settlement of Aunjetitz Culture: 2 houses of post structure, 1 double burial, 2 separated crouched inhumations of a man and a woman without
datable grave goods |
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Find spot 7
Esbeck/Schöningen, ca. 31.000 sq. m (1984/85)
Settlement site of Rössen and Bernburg Culture: 0,25 m breites palisade trench (at least 60 m in length), 4 NNW-SSO-orientated house-plans
(1 ship-like, 3 trapezoid-like), 1 kiln and settlement pits of Rössen Culture; settlement pits with ceramics of Bernburg Culture |
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Find spot 8
Schöningen, ca. 4.500 sq. m (1984)
Burial mound with 2 secondary burials without grave goods and more than 20 cremation burials in the vicinity (mainly urns) of the Pre-Roman Iron Age |
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Find spot 9
Schöningen, ca. 22.000 sq. m (1985)
Pits of Schöningen Group and early Funnelbeaker Culture and late Bronze Age/early Iron Age; settlement features (pits, hearths, 1 house-plan,
1 burial) of unknown age: Schöningen Group, early Funnelbeaker Culture, Tiefstichkeramik and Baalberg Culture |
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Find spot 10
Schöningen, ca. 31.450 sq. m (1985/2002)
Settlement features of Ammensleben Group of Schönfeld Culture: 1 house-plan, ca. 25 x ca. 5 m,
1 palisade trench, at least 50 m in length, settlement pits; 2 burials of Aunjetitz Culture;
several four-post sheds, hearths and settlement pits of Early Iron Age |
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Find spot 11
Schöningen, ca. 53.000 sq. m (1986/87)
Settlement and burial features of different periods: 1 house-plan of Rössen Culture (?); settlement pits and 1 crouched inhumation of Rössen Culture,
2 parallel palisade trenches; creamtion burials and pits (with evidence of Briquetage?) of Ammensleben Group; crouched inhumation of Aunjetitz
Culture |
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Find spot 12
Schöningen, ca. 22.000 sq. m (1986/87)
2 single grave of Aunjetitz Culture |
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The Lower Palaeolithic find spot Schöningen 12
Schöningen, > 150 sq. m (from spring 1992 onwards)
Classification: Schöningen II, Reinsdorf Interglacial
Level 1-5 (organic muds-peats), new biostratigraphical unit |
Finds/features:
a) Find layer 1 (12-1), > 150 sq. m |
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- flint artefacts
- 4 worked branches of common silver fir (Abies alba) with diagonal groove cuts, length 113-322 mm (grips for holding flint tools?)
- > 1000 big mammal/hunting remains (Palaeoloxodon-antiquus-Fauna):
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Straight-tusked elephant, rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis), bear, horse (Equus mosbachensis), red deer (Cervus elaphus),
roe (Capreolus capreolus), aurochs, beaver (Castor fiber) and beaver-like Trogontherium cuvieri; remains of reptiles, birds, small mammals
(Arrvicola-cantiana[=water vole] -Trogontherium-cuvieri-Association) and beetles |
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- Several wood (alder, pine, fir, willow, elder, hazel, sweetgale, yew, elm) and plant remains
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| b) Find layer 2 (12-2), ca. 30 sq. m |
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- Flint tools
- Kill remains
- fireplace (burned wood)
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Find spot 13/II
Schöningen, from September 12 1994 until today
Classification: Schöningen II, Reinsdorf Interglacial
Depositional sequence 4 ("spear horizon")
Area: ca. 3.638 sq. m (up to dec. 2004) |
| Finds/features: |
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- 10/94: throwing-stick (?) with both ends sharpened to a point (length: 0,78 m) made from spruce
(Picea sp.)
- Since autumn 1995: 8 wooden spears (length: 1,82-2,5 m) made from spruce
- Flint artefacts (points, retouched scraper), retouching remains (soft hammer technique)
- > 15.000 hunting remains: wild horse (20 complete skulls!), besides wisent, red deer, wild donkey
- Fireplace (reddish sediment with fossil drying cracks)
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| Depositional sequence 3 |
| Area: ca. 466 sq. m (up to dec. 2004) |
| Finds/Features: |
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- Flint artifacts
- Big mammal remains (rhinoceros, bison, wild horse)
- Wood, partially charred
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| Depositional sequence 2 |
| Area: ca. 468 sq. m (up to dec. 2004) |
| Finds/Features: |
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- Flint splinter
- Big mammal remains
- Wood of the lake-shore vegetation
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| Depositional sequence 1 (climate optimum, identical with Schöningen 12) |
| Area: ca. 422 qm (bis Ende 2004) |
| Finds/Features: |
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- Some flint artifacts and flakes (i. a. one scraper)
- Faunal remains (i. a. wild horse, extinct giant beaver/Trogontherium cuvieri, turtle/Emys orbicularis and small fossils)
- Several pieces of (partially charred) wood, tree stump
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| Find spot 15 |
Schöningen, "Fährberg", > 18.600 sq. m (2000/01)
Settlement pit of Linear Pottery Culture (including vessel remains, flint artifacts and one quern fragment);
Settlement features of Globular Amphora Culture, Schönfeld Culture and late neolithic Bernburg Culture
with several finds (i. a. ceramics, daub, flint and bone artifacts, animal bones); 6 crouched inhumations of
Bell Beaker Culture (?), among them 1 child burial; burial ground of (early?) Aunjetitz Culture (15 graves
at minimum) with crouched inhumations orientated NS (in one grave 1 lancet dagger); settlement pits of
Bronze/Iron age |
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| Sources: H. Thieme & R. Maier (Hrsg.), Archäologische Ausgrabungen
im Braunkohlentagebau Schöningen, Landkreis Helmstedt (Hannover 1995) passim; Fundchronik Niedersachsen (Beihefte
der Nachrichten aus Niedersachsens Urgeschichte/NNU). |
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