Human evolution; wooden hunting stick found (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, April 24, 2020, 00:37 (1673 days ago) @ David Turell

Two feet long, sharpened at both ends. thrown to kill small animals:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/300000-year-old-throwing-stick-shows-human-an...

"A recently unearthed, 300,000-year-old wooden stick may have once been thrown by extinct human ancestors hunting wild game, according to new research.

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"As the researchers report in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, the ancient wood was likely a throwing stick used by either Neanderthals or their even more ancient relatives, Homo heidelbergensis, to kill quarry like waterfowl and rabbits. (my bold)

"Archaeologists found the roughly two-foot long, half-pound throwing stick while conducting excavations in Schöningen, Germany, in 2016. To date, the site has yielded a trove of prehistoric weapons, including wooden spears and javelins thought to be the oldest ever discovered. This latest find adds to the ancient arsenal unearthed at Schöningen—and underscores the sophistication of early hominins as hunters and toolmakers.

“'We can show that already 300,000 years ago, not only are these late Homo heidelbergensis or very early Neanderthals at the top of the food chain,” Nicholas Conard, an archaeologist at University of Tübingen and the study’s lead author, tells the Times, “but they also have a whole range of important technological skills they can use to make sure they can feed themselves and lead their lives.”

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“Throwing sticks are pointed at both ends, but that’s actually for the flight trajectory, it’s not for piercing,” she says.

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"Analysis conducted by Rots revealed damage from apparent impacts similar to the kind seen on other throwing sticks.

“'They are effective weapons at diverse distances and can be used to kill or wound birds or rabbits or to drive larger game, such as the horses that were killed and butchered in large numbers in the Schöningen lakeshore,” explains Serangeli in a statement."

Comment: An interesting artifact. Note the bold as to who might have used it based on aging. the logic is they invented it.