Documentation and analysis of the earliest wooden tools from the Paleolithic site of Schöningen (13 II, excavation H. Thieme)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Terberger
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 447423357

In the opencast mine of Schöningen (Helmstedt district, Lower Saxony), processed wood was discovered in the 1990s at various sites on a former lakeshore associated with an interglacial period around 300,000 years ago (MIS 9). Fortunately, all of the wood was generally recovered, so that the naturally occurring wood (background vegetation) is present alongside the modified specimens. Particularly well-known are the oldest completely preserved wooden hunting weapons used by humans from the so-called Spear Horizon (Schöningen 13 II-4). In a first sub-project (2021-2024), all wood from this finds layer was evaluated as a whole for the first time. A total of 187 processed wood remains were identified and the number of known wooden weapons from Schöningen 13 II-4 significantly increased to at least 20 specimens. In addition, two new tool types were identified and the use of the splitting technique was demonstrated for the first time. With the second sub-project applied for here, all remaining Pleistocene wood finds (N = 1083) from the approximately 300,000 year old sites Schöningen 12II, 12A, 12B 13DB, 13-I/1-4, 13-II/1-3, and 15 are to be evaluated. Among the wooden artefacts, the so-called "clamp shafts" are particularly noteworthy, of which only four examples have been provisionally published so far. The species of all wood remains should be determined and wood items critically evaluated for traces of processing. Wooden artefacts are described and documented in detail and all working and use traces are analyzed in detail. Cutting-edge imaging technologies such as 3D- microscopy, gammaCT scans and MRI scans are used for these analyses. The operational chain for the objects is then reconstructed, from the selection and extraction of raw materials through the production and use of wooden tools to discard and natural alterations. Furthermore, the function of the "clamp shafts" will be tested by analyzing the usage of replicas in different functions and ist associated use-wear. The wooden artefacts from the Schöningen sites will then be compared with each other in order to obtain information about different functions and possible diachronic developments. In order to better understand the importance of wood for the European Palaeolithic, the overall results from Schöningen should be compared with the other published artefacts from European sites.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants