Three hundred thousand years ago, the first Neanderthals made wooden tools using two different technologies; one of which is still considered the invention of Homo sapiens. The collection, often combined under the name “Schöningen spears”, consists of the oldest examples of wooden tools found to date. The objects were removed from the ground during excavations in the Pleistocene period near Schöningen (Germany) at the end of the last century.

The parking lot, whose age was determined as 300,000 years, was located on the lake shore. 187 wooden artifacts were discovered here, as well as objects made of bones and the skeletal remains of herbivores. Anthropologists assumed that this was a temporary hunting camp on the lakeshore, visited during a hunt, as there were no signs of weapon making at the site.

Researchers from the University of Reading (Great Britain) published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences An article in which they present their findings on a new analysis of the collection in Schöningen. They examined the wooden artifacts using new imaging techniques such as 3D microscopy and microtomography.

Objects are made of spruce wood (Picea sp.), larch (Larix sp.) and pines (Pinus sylvestris). Such raw materials could not be found on the shores of the former interglacial lake where the parking lot is located. It had to be brought from elsewhere, at least three to five kilometers away.

Because some artifacts were marked on only one side, even in the previous study the authors thought they were spears. In the other part of the works, both ends are processed. Based on the identification of whole and fragmentary replicas and scavenging sticks, scientists concluded that the collection contained approximately 20-25 hunting tools.

According to the researchers, another 35 wooden tools were used in daily life, for example, in processing animal skins. The small pointed shavings probably also had a domestic purpose. They resemble bone tools in shape and may have been used as clothing or hair pins, to extract insects from tree bark, as fishing spears, or as awls for dressing leather.

The authors of the study divided the objects into two groups according to the method of production. The first ones were made of round wood of suitable thickness. The branches were cleaned, the bark scraped off, and then the spear tips were sharpened. If the workpiece was completely flat, its shape was changed by scraping the wood. No traces of primary processing of objects of the first group (branches, bark) were found in the parking lot. Based on this, scientists concluded that such spears were made elsewhere. However, according to researchers, they may have been repaired on the shores of the ancient lake.

The second group included objects made by dividing. Almost all of them are made of spruce wood. Judging by the annual rings, the wood for them was taken from trunks that were quite thick at the base. This choice of material greatly complicates the work of the master. But the authors of the article noted that the wood closer to the root is harder than other parts of the Christmas tree and also splits in a more controlled manner.

When creating vehicles the second way, there would have to be a lot of orphaned materials. According to the authors of the work, it was used only in the manufacture of small objects that could be awls or needles.

Researchers emphasized: They found the first evidence that vehicles using the splitting method are not just used homo sapiensas previously believed based on finds in Africa, but also on other representatives of the genus. Homo. The creation of such tools is an important point of evolution, as is the invention of Acheulean technology. Homo erectusscientists stated this.

Due to the lack of evidence and data on hominin remains at the Schöningen site, anthropologists have been unable to identify the early human species responsible for the creation of tools. Scientists say the most likely candidates are — Homo heidelbergensis or early Neanderthals. However, today many anthropologists believe that they are one and the same species. Homo.