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Deadly 300 thousand years old stick discovered in Germany

Anastasia Kryshchuk

Deadly 300 thousand years old stick discovered in Germany
Deadly 300 thousand years old stick discovered in Germany

An ancient hunting stick dating back about 300,000 years has been discovered in Germany. Ancient craftsmen demonstrated great skill in sharpening it at each end.

Two sharpened sticks and other spears found on the shore of a lake near the city of Schöningen, Germany, are the oldest large-scale records of wooden tools made by humans. This is reported by Discover.

It is noted that woodworking involved several stages, including cutting and peeling the bark, carving to obtain an aerodynamic shape, scraping off most of the surface, seasoning the wood to avoid cracking and deformation, and grinding to facilitate processing.

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Compared to ancient stone tools, wooden tools are less studied, but they have revealed a lot about ancient societies. The research suggests that the stick was used to hunt medium-sized game such as red deer or roe deer or possibly smaller animals such as hares and birds.

The tool worked by striking, while the dark areas on the points could reflect blood or fat.

Deadly 300 thousand years old stick discovered in Germany
Deadly 300,000-year-old weapon of ancient people found in Germany. Source: Benoit Clarys

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