Schöningen and Gongganting wooden artifacts are up to 360,000 years old

October 18, 2025GermanyExcavationNew ResearchShare

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Key facts

• More than 700 wooden objects have been recovered from prehistoric lakeshore deposits at Schöningen, Germany. Its best-known spears and throwing sticks date to roughly 300,000–330,000 years ago.
• Schöningen's throwing sticks are generally about 50–80 cm long, while its spears reach about 2.4 m; the eight-foot measurement does not apply to the throwing sticks.
• The video interprets the weapons as ambush-hunting tools. Published analyses suggest the throwing sticks may have been used to disadvantage larger ungulates from distances of up to about 30 metres.
• At Gongganting, China, 35 wooden artifacts from deposits dated to roughly 250,000–361,000 years ago include digging sticks and plant-processing implements.
• Associated pine, hazelnut and kiwi remains show that plants were processed and consumed, but do not establish an exclusively plant-based diet.
• Some broken wooden pieces were reused or reshaped.
• Schöningen's makers are often attributed to Homo heidelbergensis or early Neanderthals. Gongganting's makers are not securely identified and should not be assigned to either group.

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