The lightweight nature of throwing sticks likely made
them easier to handle and launch than heavier spears,
making them accessible to the entire community,
including young individuals learning to hunt.
The discovery of lightweight weaponry suggests that
early human group hunts may have involved the active
participation of the entire community, including
children, as these throwing sticks were more
accessible to handle and launch.
As per Ancient Origins, children in hunter-gatherer
societies were often provided with scaled-down
versions of adult weapons for pretend play or to
engage them in the hunting process.
Among the tools discovered in Schöningen, including
the famous Schöningen spears, is a 77cm-long
double-pointed throwing stick. This throwing stick
likely served as a hunting tool for capturing
medium-sized game, such as red and roe deer, and
fast-moving small prey like hare and birds.
The rotational launch, similar to boomerangs, allowed
these lightweight throwing sticks to achieve high
velocities and deliver powerful and lethal impacts,
reaching distances of up to 30 meters.
A double-pointed wooden throwing stick from Schöningen,
Germany: Results and new insights from a multianalytical
study
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287719
A double-pointed wooden throwing stick from Schöningen,
Germany: Results and new insights from a multianalytical
study July 19, 2023 Abstract
The site of Schöningen (Germany), dated to ca. 300,000
years ago, yielded the earliest large-scale record of
humanly-made wooden tools. These include wooden spears
and shorter double-pointed sticks, discovered in
association with herbivores that were hunted and
butchered along a lakeshore. Wooden tools have not been
systematically analysed to the same standard as other
Palaeolithic technologies, such as lithic or bone tools.
Our multianalytical study includes micro-CT scanning,
3-dimensional microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy, supporting a systematic technological and
taphonomic analysis, thus setting a new standard for
wooden tool analysis. In illustrating the biography of
one of Schöningen’s double-pointed sticks, we demonstrate
new human behaviours for this time period, including
sophisticated woodworking techniques. The hominins
selected a spruce branch which they then debarked and
shaped into an aerodynamic and ergonomic tool. They likely
seasoned the wood to avoid cracking and warping. After a
long period of use, it was probably lost while hunting,
and was then rapidly buried in mud. Taphonomic alterations
include damage from trampling, fungal attack, root damage
and compression. Through our detailed analysis we show
that Middle Pleistocene humans had a rich awareness of
raw material properties, and possessed sophisticated
woodworking skills. Alongside new detailed morphometrics
of the object, an ethnographic review supports a primary
function as a throwing stick for hunting, indicating
potential hunting strategies and social contexts including
for communal hunts involving children. The Schöningen
throwing sticks may have been used to strategically
disadvantage larger ungulates, potentially from distances
of up to 30 metres. They also demonstrate that the hominins
were technologically capable of capturing smaller fast prey
and avian fauna, a behaviour evidenced at contemporaneous
Middle Pleistocene archaeological sites.
The lightweight nature of throwing sticks likely made
them easier to handle and launch than heavier spears,
making them accessible to the entire community,
including young individuals learning to hunt.
Doesn't really matter, does it?
They had to learn to hunt. Period. The throwing stick was
in all probability used primarily for birds, maybe very
small animals like rabbits.
A throwing stick has a larger surface area than you plain
old rock, making it more likely that you'd connect with
prey. So that's the beauty: Moving up in size without
moving up in weight...
FORTUNATELY the throwing stick remained in use for a
very, Very, VERY long time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throwing_stick
Yes, the ancient Egyptians left us a visual record of
hunting with the throwing stick, and not just the
physical sticks...
The discovery of lightweight weaponry suggests thatIt had more to do with their function; WHAT they were
early human group hunts may have involved the active
participation of the entire community, including
children, as these throwing sticks were more
accessible to handle and launch.
hunting with them. Throw one of these at a Moose,
for example, and there is a likelihood greater than zero
that the Moose will kill you.
Birds? not so much. You just have to injure it and you've
got some dinner.
As per Ancient Origins, children in hunter-gathererI'd like to see some cites.
societies were often provided with scaled-down
versions of adult weapons for pretend play or to
engage them in the hunting process.
Among the tools discovered in Schöningen, includingI seriously doubt that.
the famous Schöningen spears, is a 77cm-long
double-pointed throwing stick. This throwing stick
likely served as a hunting tool for capturing
medium-sized game, such as red and roe deer, and
fast-moving small prey like hare and birds.
The rotational launch, similar to boomerangs, allowedI seriously doubt that.
these lightweight throwing sticks to achieve high
velocities and deliver powerful and lethal impacts,
reaching distances of up to 30 meters.
https://youtu.be/4qVM9wLpqlk
You can dodge an arrow at 30 yards.
No, these things would have been best for waterfowl, such
as the Egyptians let us a record of. Why? Cus birds like to
flock so missing one still presents a chance at hitting
another.
Also, a duck's mode of escape is flight. Injure it's wing so
it can't fly and you've caught it. Anything less than crippling
a mammal from 30 yards away and chances are it's
escaping.
So close range against something like a squirrel or a rabbit,
but birds would be the optimum target.
A double-pointed wooden throwing stick from Schöningen,And not to get anal but "Throwing Stick" is an interpretation,
Germany: Results and new insights from a multianalytical
study
not a fact. Nobody has seen Heidelberg Man actually employ
these things in a hunt.
MY FAVORITE weapon of wild speculation is the macuahuitl.
It seems well within the capabilities of Neanderthals and even
more archaic humans, and it would be unlikely for us to find
anything remaining except for the blades, and we do find
such blades.
At least equally likely: hunting ducks or fish... see my other comment.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287719
A double-pointed wooden throwing stick from Schöningen,
Germany: Results and new insights from a multianalytical
study July 19, 2023 Abstract
The site of Schöningen (Germany), dated to ca. 300,000
years ago, yielded the earliest large-scale record of
humanly-made wooden tools. These include wooden spears
and shorter double-pointed sticks, discovered in
association with herbivores that were hunted and
butchered along a lakeshore. Wooden tools have not been
systematically analysed to the same standard as other
Palaeolithic technologies, such as lithic or bone tools.
Our multianalytical study includes micro-CT scanning,
3-dimensional microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy, supporting a systematic technological and
taphonomic analysis, thus setting a new standard for
wooden tool analysis. In illustrating the biography of
one of Schöningen’s double-pointed sticks, we demonstrate
new human behaviours for this time period, including
sophisticated woodworking techniques. The hominins
selected a spruce branch which they then debarked and
shaped into an aerodynamic and ergonomic tool. They likely
seasoned the wood to avoid cracking and warping. After a
long period of use, it was probably lost while hunting,
and was then rapidly buried in mud. Taphonomic alterations
include damage from trampling, fungal attack, root damage
and compression. Through our detailed analysis we show
that Middle Pleistocene humans had a rich awareness of
raw material properties, and possessed sophisticated
woodworking skills. Alongside new detailed morphometrics
of the object, an ethnographic review supports a primary
function as a throwing stick for hunting, indicating
potential hunting strategies and social contexts including
for communal hunts involving children. The Schöningen
throwing sticks may have been used to strategically
disadvantage larger ungulates, potentially from distances
of up to 30 metres. They also demonstrate that the hominins
were technologically capable of capturing smaller fast prey
and avian fauna, a behaviour evidenced at contemporaneous
Middle Pleistocene archaeological sites.
Yes, thanks: fossilized in lake sediments (with cyper grasses, lake mussels, ducks, swan, crane...), possibly over many years (M.Stahlschmidt 2012, 2013).
The sticks were probably for hunting large or small mammals, aquatic or other birds or fishing?
littor...@gmail.com wrote:
But I honestly don't know.
Did you bother to look at the paper?
"Ethnographically, throwing sticks were used in various
scenarios including in interpersonal violence, to kill
pests, in self-defence against dangerous animals
including snakes, and for hunting birds, small mammals,
marsupials, and larger herbivores including duiker,
reindeer and kangaroo"
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 302 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 100:14:43 |
| Calls: | 6,767 |
| Calls today: | 5 |
| Files: | 12,295 |
| Messages: | 5,376,420 |
| Posted today: | 1 |