{"id":234803,"date":"2025-05-10T14:40:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T14:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/anthropology\/rewriting-the-timeline-neanderthal-innovation-at-schoningen\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T14:40:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T14:40:24","slug":"rewriting-the-timeline-neanderthal-innovation-at-schoningen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=234803","title":{"rendered":"Rewriting the Timeline: Neanderthal Innovation at Sch\u00f6ningen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p><span>In a soggy pit on the shores of an ancient lake in what is now central Germany, a cache of wooden spears lay hidden for nearly a quarter of a million years. When they were first unearthed in the 1990s from the Sch\u00f6ningen site, archaeologists believed these weapons might have been crafted by <\/span><em>Homo heidelbergensis<\/em><span>\u2014a hominin species ancestral to Neanderthals and perhaps to us. But thanks to a refined dating technique that analyzes<\/span><span> proteins preserved in fossilized snail shells and horse teeth, the spears have lost about 100,000 years of age.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" rel=\"\" class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg 1456w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg\" width=\"1216\" height=\"804\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/a4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:804,&quot;width&quot;:1216,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:303694,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.anthropology.net\/i\/163238435?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null}\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b4fddc-d6ad-4e53-aedc-3cf17c911578_1216x804.jpeg 1456w\" sizes=\"100vw\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"sizing-normal\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<p><\/a><figcaption class=\"image-caption\">These wooden spears, seen here at the Sch\u00f6ningen Research Museum, have now been dated to between 200,000 and 300,000 years old.JULIAN STRATENSCHULTE\/PICTURE ALLIANCE VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>This subtle shift in chronology has profound consequences. The weapons, along with butchered horse remains and other artifacts, now appear to date to around 200,000 years ago. That\u2019s squarely within the Middle Paleolithic and within the evolutionary range of Neanderthals\u2014not some proto-human cousin, but the real thing.<\/p>\n<p>And that makes the Sch\u00f6ningen spears more than just some of the oldest preserved wooden weapons in the world. It casts them as evidence of a species capable of cooperation, planning, and precision.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cRather than a few individuals taking on dangerous animals, they\u2019re coming together in larger groups and pooling the risk,\u201d said Olaf J\u00f6ris of the Leibniz Center for Archaeology.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The challenge with dating early Paleolithic sites lies in the lack of organic material amenable to radiocarbon methods. Those techniques top out around 60,000 years. Sch\u00f6ningen, however, offered another opportunity. Researchers measured the rate of racemization\u2014how amino acids in mollusk shells and horse molars switch between molecular forms\u2014allowing for a chemical clock to date the sediments.<\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" rel=\"\" class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg 1456w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg\" width=\"1456\" height=\"904\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:904,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:801862,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.anthropology.net\/i\/163238435?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null}\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ee11afb-9949-4328-8d53-6b131c5564f9_2091x1298.jpeg 1456w\" sizes=\"auto, 100vw\" class=\"sizing-normal\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<p><\/a><figcaption class=\"image-caption\"><strong>Location of Sch\u00f6ningen: <\/strong><span>Map showing the location of Sch\u00f6ningen (white dot) relative to the maximum extent of major Middle (Anglian, Elsterian, and Saalian advances) and Upper (Devensian and Weichselian) Pleistocene inland glacial advances across northern Europe (<\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.adv0752#core-collateral-R100\" rel=\"\">100<\/a><\/em><span>, <\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.adv0752#core-collateral-R101\" rel=\"\">101<\/a><\/em><span>). Map based on SRTM30_PLUS data.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>That clock pointed to 200,000 years ago, not 300,000 as previously estimated. It\u2019s a modest revision numerically, but one with dramatic implications.<\/p>\n<p><span>The reassignment situates the spears in a period where Neanderthals (<\/span><em>Homo neanderthalensis<\/em><span>) had firmly established themselves across much of Europe. Their skeletal remains, beginning around this time, show increasing lifespans, suggesting rising survival rates and, by extension, changes in behavior, sociality, or both.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cSomething is changing in how they organize and cooperate,\u201d said J\u00f6ris. \u201cAnd hunting is central to that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Imagine the scene: A shallow lake, thick with reeds. A herd of wild horses moves along its banks. A group of Neanderthals, each armed with a carefully carved wooden spear, works in silent coordination. Their objective is not simply to bring down a horse, but to manipulate the entire herd\u2014to drive them toward a kill zone, perhaps a natural bottleneck or the muddy shallows where escape is harder.<\/p>\n<p>This wasn\u2019t a random ambush. It was strategy.<\/p>\n<p>At Sch\u00f6ningen, archaeologists uncovered more than 50 horse remains, many of them juveniles and adults from the same species. That demographic profile resembles what\u2019s seen in mass kills\u2014targeted slaughters where hunters select and isolate prey in vulnerable clusters. The team found not only spears, but also double-pointed sticks and stone cutting tools\u2014evidence of butchery, not just scavenging.<\/p>\n<p>And the spears themselves are remarkable. Carefully worked from spruce and pine, they are balanced like modern javelins and exhibit signs of deliberate shaping at both ends.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe craftsmanship reflects a deep understanding of wood as a material,\u201d said Jarod Hutson, a zooarchaeologist and lead author on the study.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The tools, combined with the site\u2019s layout and faunal remains, suggest not just individuals with weapons, but groups with roles, timing, and goals. Cooperation wasn&#8217;t optional\u2014it was essential.<\/p>\n<p><span>If Neanderthals organized coordinated horse hunts 200,000 years ago, then key elements of human social behavior\u2014planning, communication, and perhaps even symbolic thinking\u2014may not be exclusive to <\/span><em>Homo sapiens<\/em><span>. They could stretch deeper into our shared past.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We often frame Neanderthals as rugged, clever cousins\u2014capable of fire, stone tools, and perhaps the occasional symbolic act\u2014but distinct from ourselves in social or cognitive nuance. The Sch\u00f6ningen site softens that boundary. These weren\u2019t brutish loners lobbing sticks. They were teams of hunters leveraging collective action to maximize return and minimize risk.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cThis puts them on par with early <\/span><em>Homo sapiens<\/em><span> in terms of social coordination,\u201d said Hutson.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>It also calls into question the neat divisions we\u2019ve drawn between species and behaviors. Was <\/span><em>Homo heidelbergensis<\/em><span> truly so different from early Neanderthals? Was cooperative hunting a one-off innovation, or a broader trait among late Middle Pleistocene hominins?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For now, what Sch\u00f6ningen offers is a window\u2014a small, murky one\u2014into a scene of remarkable clarity: Neanderthals, working together, not merely to survive, but to thrive.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few studies that provide broader context for cooperative behavior and hunting among Neanderthals:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., et al. (2018).<\/strong><span> Evidence for close-range hunting by last interglacial Neanderthals. <\/span><em>Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution, 2<\/em><span>(7), 1087\u20131092. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41559-018-0586-2<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Roebroeks, W., &amp; Villa, P. (2011).<\/strong><span> On the earliest evidence for habitual use of fire in Europe. <\/span><em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108<\/em><span>(13), 5209\u20135214. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.1018116108<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Stout, D., et al. (2015).<\/strong><span> Cognitive demands of Lower Paleolithic toolmaking. <\/span><em>Nature, 508<\/em><span>, 503\u2013506. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/nature13264<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a soggy pit on the shores of an ancient lake in what is now central Germany, a cache of wooden spears lay hidden for nearly a quarter of a million years. When they were first unearthed in the 1990s from the Sch\u00f6ningen site, archaeologists believed these weapons might have been crafted by Homo heidelbergensis\u2014a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":234804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11767],"tags":[11187,13910,45595,86977,13463],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-234803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anthropology","tag-innovation","tag-neanderthal","tag-rewriting","tag-schoningen","tag-timeline"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rewriting the Timeline: Neanderthal Innovation at Sch\u00f6ningen - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=234803\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rewriting the Timeline: Neanderthal Innovation at Sch\u00f6ningen - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a soggy pit on the shores of an ancient lake in what is now central Germany, a cache of wooden spears lay hidden for nearly a quarter of a million years. 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