The Schöningen Spears | The Oldest Weapons in Human History?

Are these some of the earliest weapons in human history? History Hit’s Tristan Hughes speaks to Dr Annemieke Milks, Researcher at the University of Reading, about the significance of the Schöningen spears. These wooden spears prove that early humans, including Neanderthals, were hunting and interacting in complex social groups 300,000 years ago.

The Schöningen spears are a set of ten wooden weapons from the Palaeolithic Age, excavated between 1994 and 1999 from the 'Spear Horizon' in the open-cast lignite mine in Schöningen, Germany. The spears are the oldest hunting weapons ever discovered and were found together with animal bones and stone and bone tools, providing proof early human ancestors were much closer to modern humans in both complex social structure and technical ability than previously thought.

Dr Milks shows Tristan how these spears were built and the range of possibilities for how they were used. Wooden spears survived as a technology for hundreds of thousands of years, suggesting they were used effectively by hunters throughout human history.

Credit for the spear replicas: Owen O’Donnell
Credit for the stone tool replicas: John Lord
Credit for the early human skull replicas: Bone Clones

#historyhit #earlyhumans #neanderthals

Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free exclusive podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsely, Mary Beard and more. Watch, listen and read history wherever you are, whenever you want it. Available on all devices: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Roku, Xbox, Chromecast, and iOs & Android.

We're offering a special discount to History Hit for our subscribers, get 50% off your first 3 months with code YOUTUBE: http://www.access.historyhit.com/
00:00 Introduction
00:59 How old are spears?
07:09 Earliest evidence of weapons
09:38 The Schöningen spears
11:54 How were the spears used?
15:59 How were spears made?
23:41 Early human conflict
25:58 Testing the spears today