Schöninger spears

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The archaeologist Hartmut Thieme explains the find situation of Speer VI to the mine director of the Braunschweigische coal mines Klaus Friedrich (1997)
Video about the Schöningen spears

As Schöningen Spears nine wooden be javelins and was originally regarded as a spear thrusting spear of wood called that from the Paleolithic come. They were discovered between 1994 and 1998 on the outskirts of Schöningen in Lower Saxony at an archaeological excavation site in the Schöningen opencast mine, together with other stone and wood artefacts , such as a stick sharpened on both sides and the Schöningen throwing stick . Absolute dating methods indicated that the finds were 290,000 to 337,000 years old. The archaeologist Hartmut Thieme from the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation led the excavation at the site until 2009 .

The Schöninger spears are the oldest completely preserved hunting weapons in the world and an important evidence of the active hunting of Homo heidelbergensis . Their find has profoundly changed the image of early man's cultural development . They are in a museum built especially for them, the palaeon ( now, Schöningen Research Museum ).

Reference

Excavation work on the so-called spear base, which was left out of the open-cast brown coal mine, 2012

The site of the spears (Schöningen 13 II silting sequence 4) lies within the Schöningen open-cast lignite mine at a depth of about 10 meters below the original surface. It is located at the edge of the open pit on a 50 × 60 meter base that was left out of the mining by Braunschweigische Kohlen-Bergwerke AG. The base protrudes into the open pit on three sides. The area, also known as the spear base, is one of thirteen Paleolithic sites in the Schöningen Süd open-cast lignite mine that were excavated from 1992 to 2009 during the prospecting of the Quaternary cover layers. The approximately 3900 m² excavation plinth represents a small section of a former bank zone that has been visited by people and animals for thousands of years - between the Elster and Saale Ice Age . The base has five thick layers of layers (silting zones) that were created by fluctuating water levels in the lake and silting processes . In the sequence of the silting zones, changes in the climate from a warm, dry phase with light deciduous forests to a cold steppe can be clearly seen.

The extremely good preservation of the organic materials is thanks to the rapid, airtight covering of the layers by Mudden . The location below the groundwater level , which was only artificially lowered by the Schöningen open-cast lignite mine from 1979 , ensured that the finds were further preserved . The spears and the other finds come from the so-called spear horizon . This is an almost 10 meter wide and 125 meter long excavation area parallel to the former lake shore in the silting zone 4 from the epoch of the ending Holstein warm period .

The age of the finds was initially given as around 400,000 years, other dating approaches, however, came to around 270,000 years. Later thermoluminescent and uranium-thorium dates give the finds an age of 290,000 to 337,000 years.

Spears

Speer VII in the find location, 1997

Among the 10 spears found is a wooden thrust lance with a length of 2.53 m, which was originally also considered a spear. With one exception, the spears are made of slender, straight spruce trunks. Speer IV is made of pine wood. The choice of conifers for the production is mainly due to climatic factors, as their local occurrence in the cooler climate at the end of the interglacial has been proven. The diameter of the spears is between 2.5 and 5 cm with a tree age between about 20 and 60 years. Although the types of wood used, spruce and pine, are softwood , the spears consist of slow-growing, solid woods that have formed under less than favorable climatic conditions. The archaeologists suspect that the wood comes from a location with difficult growth conditions, such as the Elm or the Harz Mountains .

The spears have lengths between around 1.80 m and 2.30 m and are slightly deformed due to the pressure of the sediment. They are very carefully processed and testify to a high level of technological skill and a tradition of craftsmanship. As with today's competition spears , the largest diameter and thus the center of gravity is in the front third of the shaft. The tip sections are made symmetrically from the base of the trunks, with the tip ends being specifically designed to the side of the central pith , the weakest part of the trunk.

In their throwing properties , the Schöningen wooden spears are on a par with modern competition spears. In tests, athletes were able to throw replicas that were true to the original up to 70 meters. Researchers at University College London found after thrown replicas by trained athletes that javelin throwing at 20 meters was fatal for big game.

Dates of the spears
spear length diameter Wood species Tree age particularities
I. 221 cm 4.7 cm Spruce 53 years The most massive spear
II 229 cm 3.7 cm Spruce 45–55 years Baster maintenance in places, strike time in early summer
III 184 cm 2.9 cm Spruce 33 years The shortest spear, strike time in summer
IV 119 cm 2.9 cm jaw 18 years Preserved only in fragments of 4 parts up to 119 cm
V 206 cm 2.9 cm Spruce 49 years Careful smoothing of the wooden surface with a flint tool, probably in summer
VI 253 cm 4 cm Spruce 57 years Lance, originally seen as a throwing spear, hit time in late summer
VII 203 cm 3 cm Spruce 31 years Instead of preservation, they are stored in sterile water, harvest time in summer
VIII Spruce Received only tip
IX Spruce Received only tip
X 142 cm 2.4 cm Spruce 60 years Preserved only in fragments of 5 parts up to 142 cm

More wooden weapons

The function of a wooden stick discovered in the layer of the spears has not been clearly established. The stick, 78 cm long, sharpened on both sides, was found in 1994 as the first processed wooden device. Interpretations range from throwing wood and digging stick to all-purpose tools. In contrast, a similar wooden device, uncovered in 2016 within the same find layer, was identified as a throwing stick on the basis of traces of use. It is around 65 cm long and 2.9 cm in diameter. The ends of the roughly 260 g heavy and slightly curved stick are sharpened. Based on the bone finds of swans and ducks at the site, scientists suspect earlier use in hunting waterfowl. Likewise, the throwing stick is intended to drive prey, e.g. B. horses, have been suitable for hunting.

More finds

Animal bone remains in the layer of the spears

The finds associated with the spears in the spear horizon include a charred wooden stick (" spit "), stone artifacts and skeletons of wild horses as well as bones of cattle , deer , rhinos and elephants . Of the approximately 12,000 animal bones found , over 90 percent come from horses , followed by red deer and bison . The horse bones belong to the Mosbacher horse and suggest at least 20 individuals. They show numerous traces of cut from stone tools, but only minor traces of animal damage . Traces of impact on the horse bones show that they were sometimes used as a tool similar to a hammer. Using a scanning electron microscope , Thijs van Kolfschoten from the University of Leiden was able to detect fine stone fragments in individual bones. Until then, the regular use of such bone tools was only accepted for about 40,000 years ago.

In the layer of find of the spears there were around 1500 stone artefacts made of flint , which were probably brought there by humans because of the lack of stone on the former lake shore. Around 30 pieces are stone tools such as scrapers , points and knives. Numerous retouching waste is evidence of the reworking of the stone tools brought along, and some of the flint objects belong to a gray area between artifact and natural product.

Comparative finds

Wooden artefacts from the Paleolithic are extremely rare. In addition to Schöningen, there are also finds from Clacton-on-Sea (southern England), Torralba (Spain) , Ambrona (Spain), and Bad Cannstatt (Baden-Württemberg) , although only the wood from Clacton-on-Sea, interpreted as a lance fragment, is still preserved . The calcified woods from the Bilzingsleben site are controversial in their artefact character . The wooden push lance from Lehringen , also from Lower Saxony , is much younger at around 125,000 years old. A forest elephant was probably killed with her, and she was found under its skeleton .

In 2012, an international team of researchers reported in the journal Science that finds from South Africa indicate that individuals of the genus Homo may have hunted large game with elaborately manufactured spears as early as 500,000 years ago. This is said to have been done by means of sharpened stone points on wooden shafts. Paleoanthropologists from the University of Toronto examined around 200 tips made of ferrous rock that came from a layer of earth around 500,000 years old near Kathu in South Africa. Several pieces of evidence suggest that they may have served as spearheads.

Interpretation and meaning

The excavator Hartmut Thieme interprets the site as a wild horse hunting camp. The find situation is evidence of one or more hunting events as well as the subsequent dismantling and preparation of the prey with stone tools. According to his hypotheses , the dense reeds on the lakeshore gave the hunters cover, from which the horses, wedged between the hunters and the lake, were shot with targeted javelin throws . Since there are remains of young animals under the horse bones , he concludes that a hunt in autumn. He also sees evidence of a ritual act in the spears left between the remains of the hunted prey.

The spears and the Schöningen site revolutionized the image of the cultural and social development of early humans . In this way, the previously widespread research opinion could be refuted, according to which Homo heidelbergensis (a close relative of Homo erectus ) and even the much younger Neanderthals were primitive, speechless beings who fed on plants and carrion . Because the spears and the context of their discovery with a lance and a throwing stick are evidence of high technological skills and provide the first clear evidence of active ( large game ) hunting . They show that early humans were effective hunters as early as 300,000 years ago and had a wide arsenal of wooden hunting weapons. A successful hunt for quickly fleeing herd animals is inconceivable without sophisticated hunting strategies, without a complex social structure and without developed forms of communication. Already Homo heidelbergensis thus possessed may have intellectual and cognitive abilities such as the forward-looking, planning thinking and acting, previously only modern humans ( Homo sapiens were attributed).

In 2016 it became known that the city of Schöningen was aiming to apply for Schöningen's spears as a UNESCO World Heritage Site if the tentative list was opened for new objects.

Research history

Beginning 1983

1979 saw the development of the six km² area of ​​the Schöningen opencast mine with a south and a north field in the Helmstedt lignite district . The Buschhaus power plant was built nearby to generate electricity from the lignite . The Esbeck earthworks was on its construction site . The ground monument was archaeologically examined in 1982 with a rescue excavation by the Hanoverian Institute for Monument Preservation . Since further archaeological sites were to be expected on the extensive open-cast mining area , the archaeologist Hartmut Thieme from the Institute for Monument Preservation initiated the long-term project of the main archaeological investigations in the Helmstedt lignite area in 1983 with the Braunschweig coal mines . In the years that followed, this led to the discovery and documentation of a large number of superficial sites from the Neolithic , Bronze Age , Iron Age and the Middle Ages .

Spear finds from 1994

In 1992, on the edge of the open pit of the southern field beneath Ice Age deposits at a depth of 10 to 15 meters, ancient paleolithic layers were discovered for the first time at site 12 , which enabled bucket wheel excavators to cut deep into the subsurface . About 400 meters south of it, animal bones and a wooden stick sharpened on both sides were found in 1994 at the edge of the open pit, which was designated as site 13. Since further finds were to be expected here, a 50 × 60 meter area was left out of the mining. This created an excavation base, also known as a spear base, which protrudes into the open pit. The remains of a camp of Stone Age hunters who hunted wild horses on a lake shore around 300,000 years ago were found in this area. The found objects also included the 10 wooden weapons in the form of the javelin, the thrust lance and the wooden stick.

Research project from 2008

In 2008, the research project Schöningen, funded by the German Research Foundation and led by archaeologist Nicholas J. Conard , was developed in cooperation between the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation in Hanover and the University of Tübingen . Since then, the excavations have been carried out by the University of Tübingen, Department of Ancient Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology. Around 50 scientists in 30 different institutions are researching and evaluating the excavations around the world. The cooperation partners include the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden (paleontology), the University of Leuphana (palynology), the Senckenberg Research Institute and the Senckenberg Nature Museum in Frankfurt am Main , the Leibniz University Hannover (geology), the laboratory for quaternary woods Langnau (wood anatomy) and the Roman-Germanic Central Museum in Mainz .

New cooperation from 2016

In 2016, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture transferred the archaeological research on the Schöninger Spears, which had been ongoing since 1994, from the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation to the Senckenberg Society for Natural Research (SGN) .The research tax was justified by the fact that the Senckenberg Society had more expertise on the Stone Age and the international visibility of the site will continue to expand. According to proponents of the research transfer, Lower Saxony did not succeed in adequately researching and conveying the "oldest hunting weapons of mankind"; the great success failed to materialize.

The basis of the research cooperation between the State of Lower Saxony with the SGN and the University of Tübingen, which has been involved in research into the Schöninger Spears since 2008, was a cooperation agreement signed on August 1, 2016. At the same time, a scientific advisory board was set up to promote national and international cooperation in Schöningen. The excavations by a team of ten in the area of the spear base and spear horizon south continued. During the main excavation period, up to 10 students support the scientific excavations. In 2016, excavation manager Jordi Serangeli expected further important finds in Schöningen.

Found presentation

Research Museum Schöningen

The Schöningen spears are shown in the “Research Museum Schöningen”, which was opened in 2013 under the name palaeon as a visitor center and museum for the exhibition of hunting weapons. The facility, which is not far from the spear site, is dedicated to interdisciplinary research into the Schöningen sites and Pleistocene archeology, and presents the original finds in an experience-oriented exhibition. Landscape biotopes , including a pasture with wild horses , illustrate typical plant communities of the warm period on the 34 hectare outdoor area . Due to the economic difficulties, the operation of the palaeon was stopped in 2019 and the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments restructured the property into the “Schöningen Research Museum”.

Exhibitions

A Schöninger spear in the exhibition Moving Times. Archeology in Germany

In 2007 and 2008, the Lower Saxony state exhibition with the spears took place under the title The Schöninger Speere - Man and Hunting 400,000 Years Ago in the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum and the Lower Saxony State Museum Hanover .

From September 21, 2018 to January 6, 2019, a spear was shown in the exhibition Moving Times. Archeology in Germany shown in Berlin , which took place on the occasion of the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018.

literature

  • Hartmut Thieme: Lower Palaeolithic hunting spears from Germany. In: Nature . Volume 385, 1997, pp. 807-10, doi: 10.1038 / 385807a0
  • Hartmut Thieme: Old Palaeolithic wooden tools from Schöningen, district of Helmstedt. Significant finds on the cultural development of early humans. In: Germania. Volume 77, 1999, pp. 451-487.
  • The largest archaeological excavation in Lower Saxony. Significant discoveries about prehistory in the Schöningen opencast mine. In: M. Fansa et al. (Ed.): Archeology I Land I Lower Saxony. 25 years of the Monument Protection Act - 400,000 years of history. Exhibition catalog (Archaeological Communications from Northwest Germany, Supplement 42). Stuttgart 2004, pp. 294-299.
  • Hartmut Thieme: The Lower Palaeolithic art of hunting. The case of Schöningen 13 II-4, Lower Saxony, Germany. In: C. Gamble, M. Porr (eds.): The hominid individual in context. Archaeological investigations of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic landscapes, locales and artefacts. Oxford 2005, pp. 115-132.
  • Hartmut Thieme (ed.): The Schöninger spears. Humans and hunting 400,000 years ago. Exhibition catalog. Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-89646-040-0 .
  • Gerhard Trnka: Review of: Hartmut Thieme (Hrsg.): The Schöninger Speere. Humans and hunting 400,000 years ago. Stuttgart 2007. In: H-Soz-u-Kult, January 5, 2009 ( online )
  • Brigitte Urban : Interglacial pollen records from Schöningen, North Germany. In: Developments in Quaternary Sciences. Volume 7, 2007, pp. 417-444.
  • Jordi Serangeli among other things: A window into the old Paleolithic. In: Archeology in Germany. Volume 28, No. 4, 2012, pp. 6-12, ISSN  0176-8522 .
  • Gerlinde Bigga, Brigitte Urban: In the shadow of the spears - woods and other plant finds from Schöningen and their meaning for humans. In: Hugo Obermaier Society for Research into the Ice Age and the Stone Age eV, 55th conference in Vienna, Erlangen 2013, p. 16 f.
  • Harald Eggebrecht : top of humanity. The discovery of the 300,000 year old Schoeningen spears was a sensation. It shows how Homo heidelbergensis lived and hunted. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. October 31/1. November 2014, p. 63.
  • Jordi Serangeli: The hunters of Schöningen. Traces of people and saber-toothed cats in the "spear horizon". In: Archeology in Lower Saxony . 18/2015, pp. 93-96.
  • Nicholas J. Conard, Christopher E. Miller, Jordi Serangeli, Thijs Van Kolfschoten (Eds.): Excavations at Schöningen: New Insights into Middle Pleistocene Lifeways in Northern Europe. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 89, 2015, pp. 1–308, ( online )
  • Marie-Anne Julien, Bruce Hardy, Mareike C. Stahlschmidt, Brigitte Urban, Jordi Serangeli, Nicholas J. Conard: Characterizing the Lower Paleolithic bone industry from Schöningen 12 II: A multi-proxy study. In: Journal of Human Evolution. 89, 2015, pp. 264–286. ( online , PDF)
  • Thomas Terberger , Utz Böhner , K. Felix Hillgruber, Andreas Kotula (eds.): 300,000 years of cutting-edge technology: The Paleolithic Schöningen site and the earliest spears of mankind , 2018.
  • Karl-Ernst Behre (Ed.): The chronological classification of the palaeolithic sites of Schöningen (research on prehistory from the Schöningen opencast mine, Volume 1), Mainz, 2012 ( online )
  • Thomas Terberger, Stefan Winghart (eds.): The geology of the palaeolithic sites of Schöningen (research on prehistory from the Schöningen opencast mine, volume 2), Mainz, 2015 ( online )
  • Gerlinde Bigga: The Plants of Schöningen (Research on Prehistory from the Schöningen Opencast Mine, Volume 3), Mainz, 2018 ( Online )

Web links

Commons : Schöninger Speere  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On July 1, 2019, the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation will open the Schöningen Research Museum at the palaeon location.
  2. ↑ Hartmut Thieme, Reinhard Maier (ed.): Archaeological excavations in the lignite opencast mine Schöningen. District of Helmstedt, Hanover 1995.
  3. ↑ Hartmut Thieme: The oldest spears in the world - Find places of the early Paleolithic in the Schöningen opencast mine. In: Archäologisches Nachrichtenblatt . 10, 2005, pp. 409-417.
  4. ↑ Michael Baales, Olaf Jöris: On the age of the Schöninger spears. In: J. Burdukiewicz et al. (Ed.): Knowledge hunters . Culture and Environment of Early Man. (= Publications of the State Office for Archeology Saxony-Anhalt. 57). 2003, pp. 281-288. (Festschrift Dietrich Mania)
  5. ↑ O. Jöris: From another world - Europe at the time of the Neanderthal man. In: NJ Conard et al. (Ed.): From Neanderthals to modern humans. Exhibition catalog Blaubeuren 2005, pp. 47–70.
  6. ↑ Daniel Richter, Matthias Krbetschek: The age of the Lower Paleolithic occupation at Schöningen . In: Journal of Human Evolution . tape 89 , December 2015, p. 46–56 , doi : 10.1016 / j.jhevol.2015.06.003 .
  7. ↑ Melanie Sierralta, Manfred Frechen and Brigitte Urban: 230 Th / U dating results from open cast mine Schöningen. In: Karl-Ernst Behre (Hrsg.): The chronological classification of the Palaeolithic sites of Schöningen. Mainz, 2012, pp. 143–154
  8. ↑ Brigitte Urban: Interglacial Pollen Records from Schöningen, North Germany. In: Frank Sirocko et al. (Ed.): The Climate of Past Interglacials. (= Development in Quaternary Science. Volume 7). 2007, pp. 417-444.
  9. ↑ Hartmut Thieme: Old Palaeolithic wooden tools from Schöningen, district of Helmstedt. In: Germania. No. 77, 1999, pp. 451-487.
  10. ↑ Miriam Golek, Hermann Rieder: Testing of the old Palaolithic javelins from Schöningen. In: Stadion, international journal for the history of sport. No. XXV Academia Verlag, Sankt Augustin 1999, pp. 1-12.
  11. ↑ Leif Steguweit: The Recken von Schöningen - 400,000 years of hunting with the spear. In: Bulletin of the Society for Prehistory. 8, 1999, pp. 5–14 (online view and PDF download)
  12. ↑ Annemieke Milks, David Parker and Matt Pope: External ballistics of Pleistocene hand-thrown spears: experimental performance data and implications for human evolution. In: Scientific Report. Volume 9, Article No. 820, 2019, doi: 10.1038 / s41598-018-37904-w
    Neanderthals are more skillful in motor skills than expected. On: ndr.de from January 31, 2019
  13. ↑ Profile of the spears in: 300,000 years of cutting-edge technology: The Paleolithic site in Schöningen and the earliest spears of mankind , pp. 80–81
  14. ↑ Oldest throwing stick in the world discovered at scinexx.de on April 20, 2020
  15. ^ Nicholas J. Conard, Jordi Serangeli, Gerlinde Bigga, and Veerle Rots: A 300,000-year-old throwing stick from Schöningen, northern Germany, documents the evolution of human hunting. In: Nature Ecology & Evolution. Volume 4, 2020, pp. 690-693, doi: 10.1038 / s41559-020-1139-0 .
    Guido Kleinhubbert :     Bird killer from the Stone Age. On: Spiegel Online from April 20, 2020.
  16. ↑ Stone Age hunters had their entire arsenal of deadly weapons at Welt Online as of April 20, 2020
  17. ↑ 300,000 year old throwing stick documents the evolution of the hunt. Press release of the University of Tübingen from April 20, 2020
  18. ↑ Jordi Serangeli, Thijs van Kolfschoten, Nicholas J. Conard: 300,000 year old finds of a saber-toothed cat from Schöningen - the most dangerous big cat of the Ice Age first documented in Northern Germany. In: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony. 1/2014.
  19. ↑ B. Voormolen: Ancient Hunters, Modern Butcher Schöningen 13II -4, a kill-butchery site dating from the Lower Palaeolithic northwest European. Leiden 2008.
  20. ↑ Horse bones used as a tool 300,000 years ago , in: Hamburger Abendblatt, July 6, 2015.
  21. ↑ Kurt Felix Hillgruber, Jorid Serangeli: Really hot. The stone tools from Schöningen in: 300,000 years of cutting-edge technology: The Paleolithic Schöningen site and the earliest spears of mankind , pp. 108–111
  22. ↑ Kenneth P. Oakley, Peter Andrews, Lawrence H. Keeley, J. Desmond Clark: A reappraisal of the Clacton spearpoint. In: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 43, 1977, pp. 13-30. A picture can be found here: Picture: The Clacton Spear.
  23. ^ LG Freemann, KW Butzer: The Acheulean Station of Torralba (Spain): A Progress Report. In: Quaternaria. Volume 8, 1966, pp. 9-22.
  24. ^ Joyce A. Tyldesley, Paul G. Bahn: Use of plants in the European Palaeolithic: A review of the evidence . In: Quaternary Science Reviews . tape 2 , no. 1 , 1983, p. 53-81 , doi : 10.1016 / 0277-3791 (83) 90004-5 ( PDF ).
  25. ^ E. Wagner: Cannstatt I. Big game hunter in the travertine area. (= Research and reports on prehistory and early history in Baden-Württemberg. Volume 61). Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-8062-1196-5 .
  26. ↑ D. Mania, U. Mania: Devices made of wood from the old Paleolithic site near Bilzingsleben. In: Praehistorca Thuringica. Volume 2, 1998, pp. 32-72.
  27. ↑ L. Steguweit: Traces of use on artifacts from the hominid discovery site in Bilzingsleben (Thuringia). (= Tübingen works on prehistory. Volume 2). Publishing house Marie Leidorf, Rhaden / Westf. 2003, ISBN 3-89646-852-9 .
  28. ↑ H. Thieme, S. Veil: New investigations into the Eemzeitlichen elephant hunting ground Lehringen, Ldkr. Verden. In: The customer. Volume 36, 1985, pp. 11-58.
  29. ↑ Jayne Wilkins et al .: Evidence for Early Hafted Hunting Technology. In: Science . Volume 338, No. 6109, 2012, pp. 942–946, doi: 10.1126 / science.1227608
    Ancestors threw stone spears earlier than expected. In: Focusonline. November 16, 2012.
  30. ↑ R. Musil: The horses of Schöningen: skeletal remains of a whole herd of wild horses. In: H. Thieme (Ed.): The Schöninger Speere - Man and Hunting 400,000 years ago. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-89646-040-0 , pp. 136-140.
  31. ↑ H. Thieme: Why did the hunters leave the spears behind? In: H. Thieme (Ed.): The Schöninger Speere - Man and Hunting 400,000 years ago. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-89646-040-0 , pp. 188-190.
  32. ↑ Throwing stick of Homo heidelbergensis discovered at Bild der Wissenschaft on April 20, 2020
  33. ↑ H. Thieme: The great throw of Schöningen: The new image for the culture of early humans. In: H. Thieme (Hrsg.): The Schöninger Speere - man and hunting 400,000 years ago. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-89646-040-0 , pp. 224-228.
  34. ^ MN Haidle: Great Apes ? Ape people? Human! Cognition and Language in the Early Paleolithic. In: NJ Conard (ed.): Where does man come from. Attempto publishing house. Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-89308-381-2 , pp. 69-97.
  35. ↑ "Schöninger Speere" soon to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site? at NDR.de on June 23, 2016.
  36. ↑ The place where the Schöninger spears were found is to become a World Heritage Site at Welt.de
  37. ↑ Insight into and outlook on research into the Paleolithic Age. On: idw-online from January 13, 2017.
  38. ↑ New cooperation for research in Schöningen. at ndr.de on July 28, 2016.
  39. ↑ Senckenberg Society conducts research at the Paläon. In: focus.online. July 28, 2016.
  40. ^ Minister of Science Heinen-Kljajić signs cooperation with the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research and the University of Tübingen. Press release of the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture from July 29, 2016.
  41. ↑ Stefan Lüddemann: Schöninger Speere: Good decision for Frankfurt. In: New Osnabrück Newspaper . 29th July 2016.
  42. ↑ Insight into and outlook on research into the Paleolithic Age. On: idw-online.de from January 13, 2017.
  43. ↑ Speer understandable. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . September 6, 2016.
  44. ↑ A Schöninger spear becomes the star of Berlin in Helmstedter Nachrichten on September 14, 2018
  45. ^ Special volume of the "Journal of Human Evolution" on the Schöningen site. On: archaeologie-online.de from January 28, 2016.

Coordinates: 52 ° 8 '0.7 "  N , 10 ° 59' 21.3"  E