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Neanderthals used wooden tools most convincingly for hunting, including long spears and shorter double-pointed throwing sticks. Preserved finds also support digging, while some Schöningen implements may have helped process plants, hides, or other materials. The evidence is powerful but incomplete: wood usually decays, and an artifact’s shape and context often narrow its possible uses without proving one exact task.
What did Neanderthals use wooden tools for?
The strongest direct evidence is for hunting. At Schöningen in Germany, archaeologists recovered wooden spears and double-pointed sticks in a lakeshore setting containing abundant animal remains and other evidence of hunting. The spear forms are consistent with thrusting and possibly throwing at prey ranging from small to large animals. The shorter double-pointed forms are interpreted as throwing sticks for medium-sized, fast terrestrial or flying prey. These are archaeological interpretations based on form, context, and comparison—not direct observations of a particular hunt.
Wooden tools also had nonhunting uses. A Middle Paleolithic wooden stick from Aranbaltza III in Spain is identified as a digging stick. At Schöningen, several split-wood forms may have been used in plant working, hide processing, or other domestic tasks. Those functions remain hypotheses because the surviving shapes and traces do not distinguish one activity conclusively.
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A systematic study of the Schöningen Spear Horizon excavated through 2008 identified 187 worked wooden artifacts, including a minimum of 20 hunting weapons. The assemblage contains long, pointed spears and shorter double-pointed sticks. The study’s technological analysis examined how the wood was split, shaped, pointed, polished, repaired, and reworked. Those features make weapon use plausible, especially when considered alongside the site’s butchered fauna and lakeshore activity area.
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The long spears could have served as thrusting weapons at close range and may also have been thrown. Their balanced, pointed forms are compatible with targeting prey at different distances, but the archaeological evidence does not reveal how every individual spear was used. The double-pointed sticks have a different profile. Their shorter, pointed construction is consistent with throwing at medium-sized or fast-moving terrestrial and avian prey. The interpretation is strongest at the level of tool category and hunting role, not a claim that every stick was used in the same way.
Possible plant, hide, and domestic work
Not all Schöningen worked wood resembles a weapon. Single-pointed split woods may have been used to work plants or hides, while rounded-ended split woods could have functioned as hide smoothers. Plant and hide processing are documented at the site, so these proposed functions fit the broader archaeological setting. However, the forms also permit other uses, and the study notes that ethnographic comparisons are sparse. The careful wording is therefore “may have” or “could have,” rather than a definitive assignment.
Digging at Aranbaltza III
Aranbaltza III provides a separate, direct example of a wooden digging tool. A 2018 study reports a Middle Paleolithic wooden digging stick from the Spanish site. A digging stick could have been used to loosen soil, obtain underground plant foods, open or enlarge holes, or perform similar ground-working tasks, but the surviving artifact establishes the tool’s category more securely than the precise job performed on any one occasion.
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This find matters because wooden digging tools are almost invisible in ordinary archaeological deposits. Stone tools can show wear consistent with working wood, but such indirect evidence does not preserve the wooden implement itself and does not always identify its exact function. Aranbaltza III therefore demonstrates that digging belonged to the technological repertoire, without showing how frequently Neanderthals used digging sticks in daily life.
Key sites and what their evidence supports
| Site | Date and attribution issue | Wooden evidence | Best-supported interpretation | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schöningen Spear Horizon, Germany | A 2024 study used the frequently cited circa 300,000-year framework; amino-acid geochronology published in 2025 places the horizon at approximately 200,000 years ago, within the timeframe of European Neanderthals. | 187 worked wooden artifacts, including at least 20 hunting weapons; spears, double-pointed sticks, and other split woods. | Hunting is strongest; some additional pieces may relate to plant or hide processing. | The revised age is an estimate and supports a Neanderthal-era attribution, but it does not prove which hominin made each object. Proposed nonhunting functions remain uncertain. |
| Lehringen, Germany | Approximately 125,000 years ago; associated with the Middle Paleolithic and generally discussed in relation to Neanderthals. | A 2.38 m wooden thrusting spear found with straight-tusked elephant remains; later analysis reports cut marks on ribs and vertebrae. | The most convincing surviving case for a successful Neanderthal elephant hunt using a thrusting spear. | The 1948 excavation lacked reliable photographs and drawings of the original find position, so some scholars question whether spear and elephant were directly associated. Wear near the tip has also prompted multipurpose interpretations. |
| Aranbaltza III, Spain | Middle Paleolithic context; the reported artifact is associated with Neanderthal-era occupation. | One preserved wooden digging stick. | Digging is directly supported as a use of a wooden tool. | A single artifact cannot establish how common digging sticks were or every task they performed. |
What the Schöningen assemblage shows—and what changed in its dating
Schöningen is unusually important because it preserves a sizeable collection rather than one isolated object. The 2024 systematic study of the worked wood identified tool forms that had not previously been described in detail and placed the assemblage in a broader discussion of human technological evolution. The lakeshore deposits also preserve spatial and faunal context, allowing researchers to compare the wooden objects with stone tools, animal remains, and signs of carcass processing.
For years, the Spear Horizon was commonly described as approximately 300,000 years old, corresponding to Marine Isotope Stage 9. A 2025 study used amino-acid geochronology on fossils from the find-bearing deposits, combined with regional chronostratigraphic reassessment, and estimated an age of approximately 200,000 years. That change is not a cosmetic update. It alters which hominin populations are chronologically plausible makers and places the deposits in a period associated with European Neanderthals and the Middle Paleolithic.
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The revised chronology should still be stated precisely. It supports a Neanderthal-era interpretation of the site, but dating alone cannot identify the individual or population that made a particular spear. “Made by Neanderthals” is therefore a supported attribution at the site level under the revised chronology, not a directly observed fact about every artifact.
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Lehringen: the spear and the elephant
Lehringen contributes a dramatic large-prey example. The site is dated to approximately 125,000 years ago, and its wooden spear is 2.38 metres long. It was found in association with remains of a straight-tusked elephant. A 2026 systematic faunal study reports cut marks on elephant ribs and vertebrae, interpreting them as evidence that the carcass was defleshed and probably eviscerated while still relatively fresh. The authors regard Lehringen as the most convincing site for a successful Neanderthal elephant hunt involving a thrusting spear.
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That interpretation must be presented with its archaeological qualification. The 1948 excavation took place under difficult conditions and did not preserve reliable photographs or drawings of the original find situation. Because the spatial relationship between spear and elephant was poorly documented, scholars have questioned whether the association could be coincidental rather than the remains of one hunting event.
Use-wear adds another caution. Traces near the spear tip have led some researchers to propose that the object was multipurpose—for example, a digging implement or a snow probe—as well as a weapon. The elephant evidence makes hunting a strong interpretation, but it does not eliminate every alternative use or prove the precise moment when the spear entered the deposit.
How archaeologists infer a wooden tool’s function
1. They study manufacture and morphology
Researchers first establish that a fragment is deliberately worked rather than naturally broken. They examine splitting patterns, facets, points, symmetry, polishing, repair, and reworking. A long, carefully shaped point constrains the range of plausible uses; a rounded, polished end suggests a different set of activities. Morphology can identify a weapon-like or digging-stick-like form, but it rarely selects one exclusive task.
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2. They use archaeological context
Objects found with butchered animal remains, hunting-related stone tools, or spatially coherent activity areas are more plausibly connected with hunting or carcass processing than identical objects found in an isolated layer. Schöningen’s well-preserved lakeshore context is therefore a major strength. Context is not equally reliable everywhere: Lehringen’s original documentation was too limited to settle the spear-elephant relationship beyond doubt.
3. They establish when the deposit formed
Dating determines which human populations could have made a tool. At Schöningen, earlier age estimates relied on stratigraphic correlation and dating of underlying deposits. The newer estimate uses amino-acid geochronology on fossils from the find-bearing deposits alongside regional chronostratigraphic reassessment. A date can narrow attribution, but it cannot identify a maker by itself.
4. They examine use-wear and compare experimental or ethnographic examples
Polish, scratches, edge damage, impact fractures, and other traces can support a proposed activity. Researchers may also compare the artifact with experimentally used tools or ethnographic examples. These comparisons are valuable but not unique signatures: the same wear pattern can sometimes result from several tasks, and ethnographic analogies do not reproduce every Paleolithic material or technique.
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5. They separate observation from interpretation
- Observation: a point, split surface, polish, repair, cut mark, or spatial association is preserved.
- Interpretation: the object was probably a spear, throwing stick, digging stick, hide smoother, or plant-working tool.
- Confidence: the interpretation rises when morphology, context, dating, and wear point in the same direction, and falls when excavation records or preservation are weak.
Why the surviving record understates wooden technology
Wood decays in most archaeological settings. Exceptional waterlogged or lakeshore deposits can preserve it, but ordinary soils usually leave little or no visible trace. The known artifacts are therefore a filtered sample of a much larger original toolkit. The small number of surviving objects should not be read as evidence that Neanderthals rarely made or used wood.
The same preservation problem creates a second danger: once an unusual object survives, its function can seem more certain than it really is. A well-preserved shape may support several plausible tasks, and a missing context can prevent researchers from choosing among them. Evidence for wooden technology must therefore avoid two opposite errors—treating the surviving sample as a complete inventory and treating every attractive functional story as established fact.
Quick Recap
What can be said with confidence?
- Hunting: the best-supported direct use. Schöningen’s spears and double-pointed sticks occur in a hunting-compatible context, and Lehringen adds a large-prey association with elephant-processing marks.
- Digging: directly supported by the Aranbaltza III wooden digging stick.
- Plant and hide processing: plausible for some Schöningen split woods, but not demonstrated uniquely by the surviving evidence.
- Neanderthal attribution: strongest where chronology and regional archaeological context place the objects within the Neanderthal era; still not a direct identification of an individual toolmaker.
- Frequency of use: impossible to infer from surviving wood counts alone because preservation is highly selective.
Sources and further reading
- Leder and colleagues, “The wooden artifacts from Schöningen’s Spear Horizon and their place in human evolution,” PNAS (2024)
- “Revised age for Schöningen hunting spears indicates intensification of Neanderthal cooperative behavior around 200,000 years ago,” Science Advances (2025)
- “A Middle Palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain,” PLOS ONE (2018)
- “Faunal exploitation at the elephant hunting site of Lehringen, Germany, 125,000 years ago,” Scientific Reports (2026)
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