Abstract
The poor preservation of Palaeolithic sites rarely allows the recovery of wooden artefacts, which served as key tools in the arsenals of early hunters. Here, we report the discovery of a wooden throwing stick from the Middle Pleistocene open-air site of Schöningen that expands the range of Palaeolithic weaponry and establishes that late Lower Palaeolithic hominins in Northern Europe were highly effective hunters with a wide array of wooden weapons that are rarely preserved in the archaeological record.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
11 May 2020
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1219-1
References
Thieme, H. Lower Palaeolithic hunting spears from Germany. Nature 385, 807–810 (1997).
Thieme, H. (ed.) Die Schöninger Speere—Mensch und Jagd vor 400.000 Jahren (Theiss-Verlag, 2007).
Conard, N. J., Miller, C., Serangeli, J. & van Kolfschoten, T. (eds) Excavations at Schöningen and new insights into Middle Pleistocene adaptations in Northern Europe. J. Hum. Evol. 89 (2015).
Serangeli, J., Böhner, U., van Kolfschoten, T. & Conard, N. J. Overview and new results from large-scale excavations in Schöningen. J. Hum. Evol. 89, 27–45 (2015).
Urban, B. Palynological evidence of younger Middle Pleistocene interglacials (Holsteinian, Reinsdorf, Schöningen) in the Schöningen open cast lignite mine (eastern Lower Saxony/Germany). Meded. R. Geol. Dienst 52, 175–186 (1995).
Sierralta, M., Frechen, M. & Urban, B. in Die Chronologische Einordnung der paläolithischen Fundstellen von Schöningen Band 1 (ed. Behre, K. E.) 143–154 (Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, 2012).
Richter, D. & Krbetschek, M. The age of the Lower Paleolithic occupation at Schöningen. J. Hum. Evol. 89, 46–56 (2015).
Lang, J., Böhner, U., Polom, U., Serangeli, J. & Winsemann, J. The Middle Pleistocene tunnel valley at Schöningen as a Paleolithic archive. J. Hum. Evol. 89, 18–26 (2015).
Stahlschmidt, M. et al. The depositional environments of Schöningen 13II-4 and their archaeological implications. J. Hum. Evol. 89, 71–91 (2015).
Conard, N. J. et al. Excavations at Schöningen and paradigm shifts in human evolution. J. Hum. Evol. 89, 1–17 (2015).
Schoch, W. H., Bigga, G., Böhner, U., Richter, P. & Terberger, T. New insights on the wooden weapons from the Paleolithic site of Schöningen. J. Hum. Evol. 89, 214–225 (2015).
Nugent, S. J. Applying use-wear and residue analyses to digging sticks. Mem. Queensl. Mus. 4, 89–105 (2006).
Langley, M. C., Dilkes-Hall, I. E., Balme, J. & O’Connor, S. A 600-year-old boomerang fragment from Riwi Cave (South Central Kimberley, Western Australia). Aust. Archaeol. 82, 106–122 (2016).
Devitt, J. Contemporary Aboriginal Women and Subsistence in Remote Arid Australia. PhD thesis, Univ. Queensland (1988).
Bordes, L., Lefort, A., & Blondel, F. Study and throwing experimentations around a Gaulish throwing stick discovery in Normandy. EXARCH J. 2015/3 https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10203 (2015).
Nelson, R. C. Why flutes on boomerangs and throwing sticks? Rec. South Aust. Mus. 33, 21–27 (2000).
Bordes, L. Les Bâtons de Jet Préhistoriques et Leurs Représentations: Développement d’Outils et de Méthodes Pour la Mesure de Leurs Caractéristiques et l’Évaluation de Leurs Fonctions. MSc Thesis, Univ. Nice Sophia Antipolis (2014).
Noetling, F. Notes on the hunting sticks (lughkana), spears (perenna), and baskets (tughbrana) of the Tasmanian Aborigines. Pap. Proc. R. Soc. Tasmania 64–98 (1911).
Thomas, J. Hunting in prehistory. In Actes Colloques International de Treignes, 3–7 Octobre 1990 (eds Bellier, C. et al.) 143–151 (ERAUL, 2000).
Roach, N. T. & Richmond, B. G. Clavicle length, throwing performance and the reconstruction of the Homo erectus shoulder. J. Hum. Evolution 80, 107–113 (2015).
Koerper, H. C. A game string and rabbit stick cache from Borrego Valley, San Diego County. J. Calif. Gt. Basin Anth. 20, 252–270 (1998).
Cassen, S. La crosse, point d’interrogation? Poursuite de l’analyse d’un signe néolithique, notamment à Locmariaquer (Morbihan). Anthropologie 116, 171–216 (2012).
Peter, H. Wesen und Bedeutung des Bumerangs. Veröffentlichungen zum Archiv für Völkerkunde Band 9 (Wilhelm Braumüller, 1986).
Mulvaney, J. & Kamminga, J. Prehistory of Australia (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999).
Davidson, D. S. Australian throwing‐sticks, throwing‐clubs, and boomerangs. Am. Anthropol. 38, 76–100 (1936).
Valde-Nowak, P., Nadachowski, A. & Wolsan, M. Upper Palaeolithic boomerang made of a mammoth tusk in south Poland. Nature 329, 436–438 (1987).
Andersen, S. H. Ronæs Skov: Marinarkæologiske Undersøgelser af en Kystboplads fra Ertebølletid. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter Vol. 64 (Aarhus Univ. Press, 2009).
Thomsen, T. & Jessen, A. Une trouvaille de l’ancien age de la pierre: la trouvaille de Braband. Mém. Soc. R. Antiq. Nord 162–232 (1904).
Ramseyer, D. Les armes de chasse Néolithiques des stations lacustres et palustres Suisses. Anthropol. Préhist. 111, 130–142 (2000).
Ischer, T. Die Pfahlbauten des Bielersees (Heimatkundekommission Seeland, 1928).
Luebbers, R. A. Ancient boomerangs discovered in South Australia. Nature 253, 39 (1975).
Bamford, M. K. & Henderson, Z. L. A reassessment of the wooden fragment from Florisbad, South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 30, 637–650 (2003).
Clausen, C. J., Cohen, A. D., Emiliani, C., Holman, J. A. & Stipp, J. J. Little Salt Spring, Florida: a unique underwater site. Science 203, 609–614 (1979).
Human Relations Area Files (New Haven).
Voormolen, B. Ancient Hunters, Modern Butchers: Schöningen 13II-4, a Kill and Butchery Site Dating From the Northwest European Lower Paleolithic PhD thesis, Univ. Leiden (2008).
van Kolfschoten, T., Buhrs, E. & Verheijen, I. The larger mammal fauna from the Lower Paleolithic Schöningen Spear site and its contribution to hominin subsistence. J. Hum. Evol. 89, 138–153 (2015).
Starkovich, B. M. & Conard, N. J. Bone taphonomy of the Schöningen “Spear Horizon South” and its implications for site formation and hominin meat provisioning. J. Hum. Evol. 89, 154–171 (2015).
Acknowledgements
We thank our colleagues from the State Heritage Office of Lower Saxony and the entire Schöningen excavation team, W. Berkemer, N. Haycock, M. Kursch, D. Mennella and J. Neumann-Giesen, for their support over the last 12 years of research at Schöningen; R. Ehmann, A. Gonschior, A. Janas, A. Karakostis, M. McCartin and W. Mertens in particular assisted with the field work, laboratory research and in the preparation of figures and images. This study was funded by the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft grant CO 226/22–1, the University of Tübingen, V.R.’s ERC grant agreement no. 312283 and the Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
N.J.C. and J.S. led the excavations at Schöningen; G.B. and V.R. analysed the wooden artefact presented here. All of the authors contributed to the text.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Supplementary Figs. 1–10 and legends for Supplementary Figs. 11 and 12.
Supplementary Fig. 11
Schöningen 13 II-4. 3D model showing the stratigraphic position of the throwing stick. Model by A. Janas.
Supplementary Fig. 12
Schöningen 13 II-4. 3D model of the throwing stick. Model by M. McCartin.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Conard, N.J., Serangeli, J., Bigga, G. et al. A 300,000-year-old throwing stick from Schöningen, northern Germany, documents the evolution of human hunting. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 690–693 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1139-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1139-0
This article is cited by
-
Identification and quantification of projectile impact marks on bone: new experimental insights using osseous points
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2024)
-
Through Time: Reconstructing Palaeolithic Occupations Through Use-Wear Analysis in the Middle Palaeolithic Site of Ciota Ciara (Borgosesia, Italy)
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology (2024)
-
Intriguing Occupations at Gran Dolina (Atapuerca, Spain): the Acheulean Subunits TD10.3 and TD10.4
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology (2024)
-
Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago
Nature (2023)
-
Terminal ballistic analysis of impact fractures reveals the use of spearthrower 31 ky ago at Maisières-Canal, Belgium
Scientific Reports (2023)