Revised age for Schöningen hunting spears indicates intensification of Neanderthal cooperative behavior around 200,000 years ago
The Schöningen 13II-4 archaeological site in Germany holds title to the most complete Paleolithic wooden hunting spears ever discovered, yet its age has never been properly settled. Initial estimates placed the site at around 400,000 years; this age was later revised to roughly 300,000 years. Here, we report age estimates for the "Spear Horizon" based on amino acid geochronology of fossils obtained directly from the find-bearing deposits. Together with a reassessment of regional Middle Pleistocene chronostratigraphy, these data place the Schöningen spears at ~200,000 years. This revised age positions the Spear Horizon alongside other sites that collectively record a shift toward communal hunting strategies. The Schöningen archaeological record exemplifies this behavioral transformation that arose within the increasingly complex social environments of Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals.
Authors
- Alejandro García Moreno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4861-7774)
- Peter Fischer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8410-5824)
- Trinidad Torres (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5260-4525)
- José E. Ortíz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5699-2593)
- Kirsty Penkman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6226-9799)
- Felix Bittmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9618-2798)
- Elaine Turner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3142-6288)
- Jarod M. Hutson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6357-7833)
- Dustin White
- Olaf Jöris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6360-5096)
- Daniel Richter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1681-727X)
- Sabine Gaudzinski‐Windheuser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4770-311X)
- Aritza Villaluenga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9790-1347)
- Eric P. Nelson
- Zoran M. Perić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0116-8895)
Institutions
- Smithsonian Institution (US)
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES)
- Universidad de Cantabria (ES)
- Museum für Naturkunde (DE)
- National Museum of Natural History (US)
- University of the Basque Country (ES)
- University of Bremen (DE)
- Lund University (SE)
- Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
- Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (DE)
- Amt für Archäologie (CH)
- Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen (DE)
- University of York (GB)
- Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2025-05-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adv0752
- Citations
- 11
- Primary Topic
- Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 124.80