Posted on 05/19/2025 7:50:05 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Cutting-edge technology has been used to redate the world-famous Schöningen spears that were discovered in the mid-1990s, according to a statement released by the University of York. At the time, experts estimated that 10 wooden weapons were around 400,000 or 300,000 years old, making them among the oldest hunting weapons ever found. However, scientists recently used a dating method known as amino acid geochronology, which analyzes amino acids locked in snail shells buried in sediment layers, to determine that the spears were around 100,000 years younger. This likely means that the weapons were created and wielded by Neanderthals and not an earlier human ancestor known as Homo heidelbergensis. The arsenal was found alongside the remains of around 50 butchered horses, indicating that the Neanderthals were capable of forming well-organized hunting parties where individuals undertook specific roles to ensure successful kills of larger and more challenging prey. "The Schöningen spears are so significant because, unlike older sites, they offer compelling evidence of sophisticated hunting strategies which would have required better cognitive abilities and the development of more complex communication, planning and social structures," said researcher Jarod Hutson of the Leibniz Center for Archaeology. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Science Advances.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
We are all descended from spear chuckers, but some cultures continued to chuck spears when other cultures graduated to more advanced weapons.
Close, Shrodinger’s...
many recent stories have determined that Neanderthals were highly inbred and likely might have bred themselves into extinction by having children with their children
:^) Well, I think Neal Schoningen used to get a lot of, uh, never mind...
Just one would be interesting. There’s no evidence that they were any more inbred than their descendants, among whom are most of the living population of the Earth.
That reminds me of woodchucks.
That was in the last 100,000 years. However, earlier populations were not inbred.
Neanderthals were smarter than originally thought. And we all have Neanderthal ancestors.
And the proof that we all have Neanderthal ancestors was deemed worthy of a Nobel Prize for Svante Paabo!
Where did you read that? Since we all have 1-3% of their DNA, it would appear more likely they were absorbed by modern humans over time. Since it appears Neanderthals were never a very large population to begin with, living in limited areas of an otherwise inhospitable place, about 40,000 years was probably time enough for a more numerous race of humans to absorb a smaller one. “You will be assimilated-resistance is futile”...
I’m amazed that they found evidence for umlauts 200,000 years ago.
Goes good with burgers.
:^) And we continue to climb the spiral ladder.
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