Schöningen Spears: Earliest Wooden Hunting Weapons

Between 400,000 and 380,000 years ago at Schöningen, Germany, early humans crafted wooden spears from spruce and pine trunks with weight distributions similar to modern javelins. Archaeologists found the spears alongside stone tools and butchered remains of at least 20 horses. The discovery provides the earliest evidence of systematic hunting by human ancestors and demonstrates advanced woodworking skills and cooperative hunting strategies during the Lower Paleolithic period.