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canopic jug [soylentnews.org] writes:

Archaeologist Annemieke Milks' recently published study, albeit done in 2015, suggests that some extinct hominids probably didn’t just stab prey from a close distance, but may have also occasionally threw spears [sciencenews.org]. The study had a group of athletes, particularly strong javelin throwers, throw replicas of a 300,000-year-old wooden spear, one of nine ancient hunting tools discovered at Germany’s Schöningen coal mine, at a bale of hay for accuracy.

Many researchers have suspected that Neandertals or their ancestors snuck up on and stabbed prey with the pointed wooden rods. That idea aligns with a popular assumption that Stone Age Homo sapiens had a monopoly on hurling spears at prey. Yet bodies capable of accurate and powerful throwing may have emerged nearly 2 million years ago in Homo erectus (SN Online: 6/26/13). So why not Neandertals?

Now data from high-speed video cameras at Milks’ unusual throw-off, held in January 2015 and reported online January 25 in Scientific Reports, suggest that Neandertals might have used the spears for long-range hunting.

Original Submission