In Lower Saxony, a research team has discovered what are believed to be the oldest known footprints of prehistoric man in Germany. The three approximately 300,000-year-old imprints were found in an excavation site in Schöningen (Helmstedt district).
The group around Flavio Altamura from the University of Tubingen suspects in the journal “Quaternary Science Reviews” that the traces come from Homo heidelbergensis – the forerunner of the Neanderthals.
The prints – two of which are from young individuals – are surrounded by several animal tracks, including those of forest elephants and rhinos. Together, this gives a picture of the ecosystem at that time, according to the researchers. “Our finds confirm that the extinct human species lived on lake or river banks with shallow water,” Altamura said in a statement from the university.
Snapshot of everyday family life
According to the analysis, the finds in Schöningen are a snapshot of everyday family life and could, among other things, provide information about the behavior and social composition of these primitive people. “Due to the traces of children and young people, it is probably more of a family outing than a group of adult hunters,” says Altamura.
For Lower Saxony’s Minister of Science, Falko Mohrs, the new findings prove once again the outstanding importance of the site in Schöningen. In the 1990s, the oldest hunting weapons known to man were found in the former lignite opencast mine.
The discovery of the approximately 300,000-year-old wooden Schöninger spear was considered a world sensation. In 2017, the almost complete skeleton of a Eurasian forest elephant was also discovered here.
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