Older than Homo sapiens: What is considered the world's oldest weapon

The article discusses the oldest known examples of weapons discovered by archaeologists. Among them are a wooden spear from Clacton (over 400,000 years old), finds in Schöningen (hundreds of thousands of years old), and stone points from Kathu Pan in South Africa (about 500,000 years old). The creators could have been Neanderthals and Homo heidelbergensis.

The article examines the oldest known examples of weapons found by archaeologists. One of the main contenders is a wooden spear from Clacton (UK), which is over 400,000 years old. It is made of yew wood, with a preserved fragment about 37 cm long. Since Homo sapiens appeared around 300,000 years ago, the creators could have been Homo heidelbergensis or early Neanderthals. Even more impressive finds were made in Schöningen (Germany): dozens of wooden tools, including spears over two meters long, hundreds of thousands of years old. The wood was preserved due to special conditions. In Kathu Pan (South Africa), stone points about 500,000 years old were found with damage marks, which could have been attached to wooden shafts. However, the shafts did not survive, so the evidence is less direct. The author notes that the archaeological record is incomplete due to the decay of organic materials.