The Shöningen spears date back 200,000 years

The Shöningen lances are known to be the oldest intact hunting tools. They are carved in wood and were found in the city of Schöningen in Lower Saxony (Germany). The soil of the site has particularly reducing characteristics that have allowed them to remain in such good condition. When they were discovered, in the mid-1990s, they were estimated to be about 400,000 years old, but then another dating gave them an age of 300,000 years. Now, however, they have been re-examined by an international team of researchers, who conclude that they are about 200,000 years old. The UPV/EHU’s Aritza Villaluenga Martínez has participated in the study.

At some point, these initial dates were not based directly on the lance horizon, but on the relative chronology of the sediments in the upper and lower layers of the skin. Now, for the first time, they have been able to date the materials of the lance horizon, and the method of analysis based on amino acid racemization has been particularly important. In fact, in living beings, L-amino acids predominate. After death, racemization occurs, i.e., L-amino acids are converted to D. Thus, by examining the ratio of L to D amino acids, the age of the samples can be determined.

In Shöningen, the degree of ratiemization of samples of the lance’s horizon has been studied, such as the teeth of horses hunted by humans of the time, the opercules of gastropods of the genus Bithynia and the shells of some small crustaceans. This is how they conclude that the lances are 200,000 years old. It has been determined that the site of Schöningen belongs to the Middle Paleolithic, the era of the first Neanderthals. And, in addition to the spears, the site is important because there is clear evidence of hunting, especially of horses. This means that they were specialized in the hunting of horses, for which they collaborated. The results are published in the journal Science Advances.