The famous Schöningen spears, discovered in Germany in 1994, are considered the oldest weapons made by hominins that have been preserved in their entirety. For a long time, the original dating that placed them at 400,000 years old was accepted, later revised down to 300,000 in more recent analyses, attributing their creation to Homo heidelbergensis.

At the site where the spears were found, numerous stone tools were also discovered, along with the remains of about 50 horses, indicating that the area was a recurrent hunting ground used by prehistoric humans.

New datings, now published in a study in Science Advances, reduce that age by about 100,000 years, down to 200,000 years old, which would mean that they were actually created by Neanderthals. To determine this, the researchers used a technique known as amino acid geochronology.

Schöningen
Schöningen Archaeological Site. Credit: Jordi Serangeli / Wikimedia Commons

They analyzed proteins in fossilized snails, ostracods (small crustaceans), and horse teeth found next to the spears—organic materials that contain amino acid molecules which change their structure over time. By measuring these changes, the researchers were able to estimate the age of the fossils and, therefore, of the spears.

The results showed that the Schöningen fossils are more recent than those from other sites attributed to earlier glacial periods, but older than those from the last major glaciation, around 120,000 years ago, which places the spears in the Middle Pleistocene—a period during which Neanderthals already inhabited Europe.

If the spears were 400,000 years old, as originally believed, they could have been made by Homo heidelbergensis, a common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans. But with an age of 200,000 years, it is almost certain that they were the work of Neanderthals, who by then must have been highly specialized and cooperative hunters.

Schöningen spears
The spears and throwing sticks from the Schöningen site were used for hunting large and small game. The fragments were completed with drawings. Credit: Volker Minkus/MINKUSIMAGES, Christa Fuchs, Matthias Vogel / Dirk Leder, Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege (NLD)

This is because the Schöningen site shows evidence of organized hunting, where Neanderthals not only hunted horses but also processed them in groups. This behavior requires planning and communication, and has also been observed at other sites from the same period, such as Blache-Saint-Vaast in France (where aurochs were hunted) or Taubach in Germany (where rhinoceroses were hunted).

Schöningen thus fits into a broader pattern suggesting that, during this period, Neanderthals developed more sophisticated hunting strategies and began to specialize in specific prey.

The study also calls for a reconsideration of the chronology of other sites in the region. According to the authors, the geological deposits of Schöningen do not correspond to complete glacial cycles, as previously thought, but rather to shorter phases within those periods, meaning that some climatic and cultural events may be misdated in other parts of Europe.

SOURCES

Jarod M. Hutson et al., Revised age for Schöningen hunting spears indicates intensification of Neanderthal cooperative behavior around 200,000 years ago. Sci. Adv. 11, eadv0752(2025). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adv0752

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