https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/44969/20230720/300-000-year-old-throwing-stick-unveils-early-humans-skilled.htm

A 300,000-year-old wooden throwing stick discovered
in Germany has been subjected to cutting-edge
examination, revealing the remarkable woodworking
capabilities of early humans. The Schöningen spears,
the earliest weapons ever recovered, reveal impressive
details about early humans' behavior and carpentry
skills.

Early humans demonstrated impressive planning abilities,
extensive knowledge of wood properties, and
sophisticated woodworking skills that continue to be
valuable today.

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.

Dirk Leder, a co-author of the study, explained that
the Schöningen humans crafted this aerodynamic and
ergonomic tool from a spruce branch, undergoing
multiple steps of woodworking, such as cutting,
stripping bark, carving an aerodynamic shape,
scraping the surface, seasoning to prevent cracking
and warping, and sanding for improved handling. These
findings shed light on the resourcefulness and
ingenuity of early humans in crafting effective
hunting tools.

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.
....

The paper is here

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
Published: 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.

Primum Sapienti wrote:

> 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 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.

It had more to do with their function; WHAT they were
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-gatherer
> societies were often provided with scaled-down
> versions of adult weapons for pretend play or to
> engage them in the hunting process.

I'd like to see some cites.
> 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.

I seriously doubt that.
> 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.

I seriously doubt that.

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,
> Germany: Results and new insights from a multianalytical
> study

And not to get anal but "Throwing Stick" is an interpretation,
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.

-- --

https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/723026966788423680

> 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?
From my 2022 book p.222-223 "De evolutie van de mens - waarom wij rechtop lopen en kunnen spreken" Acad.Uitg. Eburon Utrecht NL:
"Die latere erectus-achtigen waren technisch al gevorderd. In Schöningen 13 II-4 bij Hannover (400–300 ka) lagen in een ven, bij ‘kamp- of haardvuren’ zei Hartmut Thieme, zeker 15 paardenkadavers, 8 ‘mooi-uitgebalanceerde werpspiesen’ van taxus, een kort ‘steekwapen’ met beiderzijds scherpe punten, stenen werktuigen, en 3 zilversparren heften. Maar Mareike Stahlschmidt zegt: er was geen slachtpartij, er waren geen haard-vuren, alles was natuurlijk, ook de brandsporen, gespreid over jaren, afgezet in open water: een meer (lake) met cypergrassen, vijvermossels (Anodonta anatina), eend (duck), zwaan en kraanvogel. En volgens Nicholas Conard was het ‘steekwapen’ een werpstok waarmee je al wadend eenden, zwanen, misschien zelfs vissen kon doden. In de bruinkoolmijn lagen resten van onder meer hond en vos, olifant, bosneushoorn, hert, paard, oeros, gewone en reuzenbevers (beaver), water- en andere mollen en spitsmuizen, amfibieën, reptielen, kevers, slakken en mossels, den, spar en els. Paalgaten van paalhutten zijn er niet gevonden, emailde mij Jordi Serangeli: kenden ze al rietvlotten, veel veel primitiever dan bij moeras-arabieren?"

Op vrijdag 21 juli 2023 om 09:55:51 UTC+2 schreef JTEM is so reasonable:

kudu runner:
> > 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.

At least equally likely: hunting ducks or fish... see my other comment.

> 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 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.
> It had more to do with their function; WHAT they were
> 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-gatherer
> > societies were often provided with scaled-down
> > versions of adult weapons for pretend play or to
> > engage them in the hunting process.
> I'd like to see some cites.
> > 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.
> I seriously doubt that.
> > 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.
> I seriously doubt that.
>
> 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,
> > Germany: Results and new insights from a multianalytical
> > study
> And not to get anal but "Throwing Stick" is an interpretation,
> 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.

littor...@gmail.com wrote:

> At least equally likely: hunting ducks or fish... see my other comment.

I thought the spears may have been for fishing.

They are associated with water, are they not?

"Spear fishing."

But I honestly don't know. Most of this stuff is unknown and unknowable,
absent the invention of a time machine.

But if you really, really wanted to escape from me. We're talking a
situation where all your instincts were pushing your buddy to get the
&$%# away from me. I could throw a baseball bat at you, and hit you,
and more often than not you'd get away. Would it hurt? Yes. Would
it damage you so much you could not escape? Unlikely.

-- --

https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/723026966788423680

littor...@gmail.com wrote:
>> 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?

Did you bother to look at the paper?

"Butchered animal remains are primarily from horse (Equus
mosbachensis), but also include species such as red deer
(Cervus elaphus), and bovids"

"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"

As you can see, child, all you had to do follow the link.

JTEM is so reasonable wrote:
> littor...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> But I honestly don't know.

Primum Sapienti wrote:

> Did you bother to look at the paper?

Lol! The irony!

You have never once read much less grasped a single "Cite" you made
the mistake of posting!

> "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"

Throwing sticks are next to useless against anything other
than small game, like a rabbit. They're best used against
birds.

Check this guy out. And, please, I beg you; hold your breath until
he catches something!

https://youtu.be/LHunBoChHho

That's a boomerang, which is a good deal more refined than
most throwing sticks,.

Show us some videos of people hunting with a throwing stick.

-- --

https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/724349278678614016

OCPD isn't an argument. You're a moron who religiously believes any cite it
can cherry pick, so long as you can misunderstand it to be supporting you
or attackng someone else.

-- --

https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/724349278678614016

JTEM is so reasonable wrote:
>
[OCPD]

Yeah, the FBI has been informed about you... can't take any risks.

So, anyway, you are a blithering idiot, quoting things you never read,
much less understood, and that's why you can't answer even basis
questions.

JTEM is so reasonable wrote:
>

[OCPD]

Yeah, the FBI has been informed about you... can't take any risks.

So, anyway, you are a blithering idiot, quoting things you never read,
much less understood, and that's why you can't answer even basis
questions.

OCPD, Primum Sapienti wrote:

[...]

You're severely mentally ill, not to mention stupid, so let me
try this. It won't work but I'll have a lot of fun laughing at you.

https://wallabyboomerangs.com/en/pages/lhistoire-du-boomerang

: Aboriginal peoples used it to lure prey. A boomerang was thrown
: above a flock of birds to simulate a hawk. The birds would fly
: low to avoid this threat

So the boomerang, which is a tad more advanced than a throwing
stick, isn't even necessarily used to kill/disable prey. No, it's better
used to simulate a hawk, to make the birds easier to kill/catch by
other means...

I mean, it's not like I hadn't cited videos of a years-practiced aussie
failing miserably at so much as bruising anything with a Boomerange,
so you couldn't be expected to pull your head out of your butt and
say something one-topic & reasonably intelligent.

-- --

https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/724820386985934848