Stone Age Camp Found In Germany

Spiegel ^ | 2-6-2007

[blam]

Stone Age Camp Found In Germany

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 120,000-year-old Stone Age hunting camp in a coal mine in Germany. It is a find of great European importance, researchers say.

Open-cast coal mines may get a bad press, but in Germany they're still big business -- the country is the world's largest producer of lignite, or brown coal. Now another advantage of open-cast mines has been discovered -- they can conceal a rich seam of archaeological sites.

Archaeologists have found the remains of a 120,000-year-old Stone Age hunting camp in an open-cast lignite mine near Inden in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

"We'll never find such a camp ever again," archaeologist Jürgen Thissen from the Rhineland Commission for Historical Sites said in Bonn Monday. "There isn't another one in the whole of Germany."

He added that the find was the first of its kind in the region, and was of European importance.

Thissen and his assistants came across postholes of three shelters in the open-cast mine last August. Two fireplaces with traces of fires were also found, as were over 600 stone tools and the stone chips left over from their production. Among the stone tools found were a stone knife, serrated blades, and so-called "blanks" (pieces of stone ready to be shaped into tools).

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[pissant]

No, they just stumbled into the muslim neighborhood.

[cicero2k]

Somebody done somebody wrong. I didn't think the migration from Africa to Europe occured until say 20,000 years ago.

[GoldCountryRedneck]

So they found the home of Chancellor Angela Merkel???

[Bahbah]

The climate in northern Germany at the time would have been similar to the Mediterranean today.

Now just who was to blame for that warming?

[proxy_user]

The migration of modern humans out of Africa was about 50,000 years ago.

But this is probably a Neanderthal camp.

[ndt]

"I didn't think the migration from Africa to Europe occurred until say 20,000 years ago."

One would assume they were not Homo sapiens otherwise that would be a huge deal.

[Colofornian]

Hey, didn't another poster post an article earlier today on Germany worrying about its brain drain? Is this [caves like this] where it went?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

BTW, Germany does an excellent job of remediation of open pit coal mines. They even relocate entire towns, including cemeteries and medieval churches.

[verum ago]

I didn't think the migration from Africa to Europe occured until say 20,000 years ago.I'm pretty sure that's the rough date for the migration from Asia into North America

[xcamel]

This is going to throw a real wrench into the archeo clockworks...

[blam]

"This is going to throw a real wrench into the archeo clockworks..."

Homo-Erectus?

[LtdGovt]

That does it, Muslims have gone too far there!

[geopyg]

"We'll never find such a camp ever again," archaeologist Jürgen Thissen from the Rhineland Commission for Historical Sites said in Bonn Monday. "There isn't another one in the whole of Germany."

I bet that's what he said after the last find two years ago as well!?

[R.W.Ratikal]

Yeah. It's called Berlin.

[Dilbert San Diego]

sarcasm alert --

Hey watch your language about Homo Erectus. This is a family oriented web site.


sarcasm off.

[ccmay]

And wouldn't you know it, they even have a web site.

-ccm

[blam]

Stranger In A New Land

[muir_redwoods]

""We'll never find such a camp ever again," archaeologist Jürgen Thissen from the Rhineland Commission for Historical Sites said in Bonn Monday. "There isn't another one in the whole of Germany."

Congratulations are due on this find but just how can he be so certain of this?