The Schöningen spears are a set of ten Palaeolithic wooden weapons that were excavated between 1994 and 1999 from the 'Spear Horizon' in the open-cast lignite mine in Schöningen, Helmstedt district, Germany.

Spears were used first as hunting weapons amongst the ancient Chinese. They became popular as infantry weapons during the Warring States and Qin era, when spearmen were used as especially highly disciplined soldiers in organized group attacks.

Jun 29, 2022 · Three wooden spears like this one were found at Schöningen, Germany, along with stone tools and the butchered remains of more than 10 horses. These spears are currently the oldest known wooden artifacts in the world.

Jul 19, 2023 · Researchers have revealed that the famed 300,000-year-old Schöningen Spears demonstrate that early humans possessed exceptional woodworking skills. Excavated in the 1990s, the legendary Schöningen spears from Germany.

The Clacton Spear, or Clacton Spear Point, is the tip of a wooden spear discovered in Clacton-on-Sea in 1911. At approximately 400,000 years old, it is the oldest known worked wooden implement. [1]

17 hours ago · The oldest item found so far, a spear-thrower called an atlatl, was dated to almost 7,000 years old—in a 2023 paper, the researchers suggested it was the oldest one found on the continent.

Wooden tools rarely survive in the Paleolithic record limiting our understanding of Pleistocene hunter-gather lifeways. With 187 wooden artifacts, Schöningen 13 II-4 provides the largest assemblage worldwide introduced here for the first time in full.

Apr 7, 2024 · In 1994, archaeological digs at the Schöningen open-cast coal mine unveiled humanity’s oldest known hunting tools in an extraordinary state of preservation, sparking worldwide excitement. Spears and a double-pointed throwing stick were found lying between animal bones about ten meters below the surface in deposits at a former lakeshore.

23 hours ago · The ancient weapons include notched ends for the darts of a spear thrower, or atlatl; the foreshafts of darts that had stone tips; and the foreshafts of darts that were probably poisoned ...

May 16, 2024 · Amidst this stash of wooden artifacts, the largest known from the Pleistocene (2.58 million to 11,700 years ago) were at least 10 spears, seven throwing sticks, and 35 domestic tools. They were all carved from woods known to be …