400,000 year old spears found in an German coal mine!

reinep.wordpress.com ^ | 07-04-2010 | Staff

[Jaded]

But he was. Heck, Al Gore invented hunting, then he invented the internet.

[null and void]

Ridiculous!

Everyone knows Neanderthals were snowboarders...

[SunkenCiv]

That graphic is from Answers in Genesis.

[SunkenCiv]

I wonder whinny figured out how to ride one.

[BenLurkin]

Here's the scoop from the reliable atheists at Wikipedia:

Cro-Magnon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The original "Old man of Crô-Magnon", Musée de l'Homme, ParisThe Cro-Magnon (pronounced /kroʊˈmæɡnən/, French [kʁomaɲɔ̃]) were the first early modern humans (early Homo sapiens sapiens) of the European Upper Paleolithic in Europe.

The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present.

[SunkenCiv]

Neandertal characteristics were fully emerged by 350,000 years ago, but had begun to 600,000 years ago, in Europe.

The Neandertal Enigma
by James Shreeve
in local libraries

Frayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]

[goldfinch]

bump for later

[zeugma]

Those spears were most likely thrusting weapons and not thrown, especially since they are not straight and wouldn’t fly properly. It is also estimated that modern humans appeared about 50,000 years ago so its likely those spears were used by neanderthals.

It could be they might have warped a bit over the last few hundred thousand years. :-)

[Godebert]

"One of the strong thesis is that early man didn't hunt. Rather, relying on his smarts he let other animals, e.g. lions, tigers, bears, wolves ~ kill game which he then stole and ate himself! "

Probably both hunting and opportunistic scavenging took place. Even chimps have been observed in the wild cooperatively hunting. I'm sure early man has been using sharp sticks since he learned to stand upright. As to when man learned to carve a sharp point on the end of a stick.......I'm guessing way earlier than 400,000 years ago.

[Hacklehead]

“It could be they might have warped a bit over the last few hundred thousand years. :-)”

I’ve become pretty warped in less than 60 years so it’s certainly possible. For what it’s worth the “experts” say that Neanderthal had thick shout bodies and were very strong (built like a fireplug with feet), and likely to have been ambush predators. Also those spears look like they were made from a six or 7 ft tree branch with a sharpened end. Even if thrown by a very strong arm I doubt it would penetrate very deeply into a horse.

[mrsmith]

“chopping down an appropriate tree and stripping off the bark and branches, the ancient hunters carved the tip at the base of the trunk”

Sounds like a tent pole.

[Drammach]

“..I doubt it would penetrate very deeply into a horse.”

The tip can be sharpened quite a bit, and when properly hardened in a low fire or bed of coals, becomes even harder.
Not iron, but very hard.
The actual point only has to have an angle of about 45 degrees to achieve maximum effectiveness, so the tip of the spear could be nearly an inch in thickness.
Once hardened, it will easily pierce flesh and crack bones.

The spear is not a javelin, meant for throwing long distance, it is meant for close distance and when possible for hands on thrusting.
The thrust is where this type of spear is most effective.

I could penetrate a (soft) vital area 6 to 8 inches, and someone like early man or neanderthal could probably embed such a weapon a foot or more.

[Red Badger]

Why would you need a tent pole in a cave?...............

[wolfman23601]

I thought we all just left Africa 70,000 years ago...

[Red Badger]

The capitalists left a lot earlier...............

[mrsmith]

hunting parties, excess population living outside, maybe the cave roof dripped?

Actually it just sounded like a tent pole to me.

[Red Badger]

You could be right, anyway.
We may not be absolutely sure that they are spears.
IIRC, some spears were found somewhere else in Europe, in a similar situation. They had their wooden tips “hardened” by burning them a little, to drive out the moisture and making the wood very hard and dry. Then the blackened burned parts were scraped down to the dried wood and formed into a very sharp point.
Of course these 400k spears may have been from an older technology ( before they discovered fire?) ............

[dsc]

Your chart makes it look like there was no genus homo between erectus and modern man. There seems to be a gap.

[Ditter]

Just WOW! Speaking as a former artifact hunter, I would love to find something like this.

[ZULU]

“The hunters, called archaic Homo sapiens or Homo heidelbergensis”

I thought archaic Homo sapiens didn’t emerge until 100,000 B.C. in Africa and Homo antecessor preceeded Homo hiedelbergensis who preceded Homo neanderthalensis.