BUILD and TEST 400,000 Year Old NEANDERTHAL Throwing Spear  

Heyho! Greetings from Germany! Magnus here we know each other from Trackerschool 10+ years ago! I worked at the Paleon Schoeningen Spears Museum! (to be exact the spears were made by Homo Heidelbergensis the ancestor of Homo Neandertalensis the excavation is still ongoing)

I remember a german documentation, where a german athlet as part of an experiment threw reconstrutions of these spears. With some practise he soon reached the same distances as with modern olympic javelins. While stone age people might not have thrown for maximum distance, it showed that they already knew how to optimize their tools even with the primitive technologies they had at hand. I work in a open air museum in Germany (Oerlinghausen) where we cover the time from stone ages to early medieval period. The spear thrower is another fascinating stone age technology that showcase what a keen eye for applied physics these people had and how to use it to their advantage long before the formulas behind it were discovered.

The hard part is finding 400,000 yr old elk to throw it at.

This is a project ive been planning myself for a while! The schöningen spears are my favourite of the neanderthal finds. Amazing work!

The shape of those spears were pretty neat, keeps the correct orientation when in flight and the fact that the weight is more towards the tip means the tip gets driven in harder than if the weight was more middle third

Best youtube survivalist. No macho garbage, no annoying background music, least worst beard.

Neanderthals were badass.

Thank You Donny for bringing history to life, Excellent as always.

Loved the shots of Finn watching the spear fly and the one of him running after it 😂

In my opinion stone knives are better than metal because with a metal blade you would need a whetstone to sharpen it but with a stone blade you just have to flake it and also the satisfaction I get from making a good strong stone blade just makes the experience 1000 times better

Another amazing and educational video from the most entertaining and authentic survival channel on RU-vid. Thanks again Donny!

I believe they ram the spear into what they were hunting more often, seeing it barely stick the ground. I can't see it piercing a thick hide unless they were really close

im so glad this wasnt silliness. i loved this, i felt like i was in an outdoor classroom.

A good job..thanks for the how to's!! Now..off to find a good candidate, for a spear!! 👍🐺🧙‍♂️🦊👌

Appreciate the hell out of it, Donny. That was pretty damned cool.

Awsome video as always, thank you for your content 😊

Love this type of experimental archaeology! I usually have my nose in the papers so it's a nice change to see things actually put into practice. It's flying really well! Neanderthals were so strong that I don't think we can really test how they thrust properly. Our biomechanics are a bit different. But very cool to try. And I'd say you come pretty close with all the muscle you developed from working hard like in this video 💪

absolutely love the content ! always inspired me to start making these tools too

Wow. That looks like it might adapt to the atlatl really well, too. The way it moves through the air once released makes it an ideal throwing shape. That's amazing. I'm going to go camping and make one this weekend, now -- but I'll use modern tools, LOL.

Thanks for the video. I show my students your vids when we talk about experimental archeology and neolithic culture.

I've never heard about that. Awesome! Keep in mind that neanderthals were probably much stronger (muscular) than us too when throwing that javelin!

Fantastic content. Thanks for a little longer sit.

This was awesome to warch! Thank you! I just learned more about spears in 11 minutes than I have in my entire life. Back in the 90's, I had a farm... My nephew and I were burning a bunch of scrub trees and tried fire hardening, smoking venison, and figuring out how to bend wood with heat. It evolved into two days of messing around and learning a ton. We built atlatls that weekend and have gotten fairly decent at lobbing pointed sticks. I cannot wait to show him this video! Thanks again!

Thank for video donny

Blessed Love ❤️‍🔥 Thanks for sharing!

Ah, good to see you again. thanks for the virtual visit here. Am thinkin of goin out and finding some nice atlatl type dart branches, and maybe look for some quartz or chirt or agate at a muddy dam. But at least their is a rather friendly beaver out there. Polte fella too, hehe, slapped his tail and dove when I came near and startled, hung out and plinked with bow and kinda waved and let him know was no threat, he hung out on surface nice and calm watchin. When I waved goodby on way out, he slapped gently back kinda like a wave back i figure. Hehe, maybe a good day for it. Anywho.. A belated happy 4th, and Canada day all rolled up in one there bud. Thanks for the great lessons. All kids and parents should do and learn how. Besides, is great fun time to talk. Folks just seldom get that kinda time it seems. Cheers.

Really fascinating to see this ancient tech in practice! I seem to remember reading years ago that there was a question whether neanderthals had shoulder joints capable of effective range of motion for throwing overhand. But it seems convincing that this was not the case. If anything, given their strength, they must have had one hell of a throw.

Superb video dude, loved that! flew well too.

Great channel, thanks. Love the content.

That traveled a lot farther than I thought it would!

The original builder of that style of spear had a sound working understanding of ballistics and aerodynamics.

Awesome video again.

This is the first video ive seen on how to make these in detail seems like stone tools are the way you get almost a perfect replica using them

I liked seeing you using the big rock like a rough material removal work bench. Maybe a sharp-broken found boulder was used 'back in the day'. Also girdling and breaking rather than trying to saw/whittle all the way through is good to show folks.

The amount of time that went in to this. So much work for something most people wiuld call a "simple" tool. Its truly fascinating

Can u make rope out of the bark ?

Hey Donnie, I've been familiar with your content since Alone and really enjoy it! We see a lot of your stonework but could we get a video breaking down some of your leather bags and pouches? Keep up the good work!

I use to make stuff like that all the time has a kid. Age 67.

Great video keep up the good work:)

Excellent video Donny. Sure is fun watching you work brother. Old age has taken me out of the game but I can still sit on the sidelines. Thanks for sharing your knowledge Sir. Many blessings.

Of course Neanderthal's would have made better ones as they used them and would have iterated this hundreds if not thousands of times, but this was a good demonstration of the process.

SWEET THROW.... That forward weight and trailing distal taper certainly guides the flight beautifully. Right on!

Fascinating. As you were working I thought to myself that every action and process you went through, Neanderthals, over tens of thousands of years, did countless times. Nice, simple demo, and in a landscape they would have lived in. Liked and subscribed!

Sir this was a very informative video thank you for sharing this six stars brother

thx awesome!!

Excellent. Honorary PhD. work.

Wow nice work❤👌

Outstanding spear throwing.

I suppose with the weight of the spear, the impact would penetrate most animal hides. Just curious. When did the atlatl appear? Seems the next stage of this technology. Was it during the Neanderthal era? And did the atlatl appear before stone tips? I could look it up but would rather trust what you say over the stuff I find online. Thanks for all the content you make.

Donny, have you ever heard of the antler-point spears from the early european Aurignacium? It seems that for a very short timeframe (I think only around 5000 years), straight, long trees for spear shafts were so scarce, that people did not notch the front of the shaft to insert a stone point and risk the rare shaft splitting open the entire way. Usually, as you well know, it's the spearhead that takes great effort and is most at risk of breaking. Well, since the wood was so rare, they used reindeer antlers as spear heads that were notched, accepting a spearshaft that looked much like your example here. An engineer would call this a "female" shaft adapter, rather than a "male" adapter. The point might split on impact, but reindeer was abundand, wood was not, so you could always replace the basically sacrificial spearpoint. I was wondering if you've heard of this and have any plans of demonstrating this fascinating and shortlived spear type to a more general audience

these were most likely game carrying sticks and not spears . we see the exact same being used today by modern hunter gatherers . wood just does not work for a penetrating weapon at these ranges and thicknesses . go test its penetrating power on a real carcass with hide at the kind of ranges you are throwing and the theory that these are spears crumbles fast . yours is far more aerodynamic than the finds and a totally different design and much more like an olympic javelin . these things would just annoy a deer size animal at any range without a bone or stone point .. test it on a carcass

@DonnyDust wheres the link to buy your book wild wisdom?

Donny will survive !

Every time i go camping ever since i was young, i always made a spear.

Just an odd question. As a qualifier, I’ve read a lot about this spear as both a throwing spear and a thrusting spear and all loads of commentary in between. Hypothetically, as a thrower and a simple spear one might make in a survival sort of scenario, would bladelets/microliths work to make it in anyway more effective or would that require a change to the overall spear? I hope that makes sense.

Love your videos. They sparked an interest in me that I Kind of forgot I had and help bring me out of a very difficult and trying time in my life. With some help from others, determination, and (in all seriousness) videos such as yours that reminded me what I enjoyed out of life before serious addiction took control of my life, I am able to say I am not the same person I was not very long ago, far from it and I’m never going back. Thank you Donny.

Well done sir 👍🏻. 🐾🙏🏻✌🏻🤙🏻

I've read where the section that is closest to the core of the tree is the densest part because it is the oldest. And you generated all that kindling and fire starter knocking off the stubs and bark.

I can't believe you didn't do this using safety gloves and eye protection. hahahahahhahahhaha Nice throwing weapon

These are almost the same as the light throwing spear that Maori boys made to practice with, a hundred years ago, I don't think they hardened the tip of the practice spears, but other wise, the same. Little boys started spear practice with the stalks of the native grass Toetoe and then made themselves wooden ones.

Amazing that our ancestors understood how basic physics worked and incorporated it into the design of these spears. Also Amazing that they used these kind of tools to fight megafauna to survive and here we are today, the product of their struggle.

Ah, the good ol pointed stick. Never leave the cave without it

How well would a schoningen spear work with an atlatl? The neanderthals were extremely skilled craftsmen and were known to use geometry in their tools, and the point on the trailing end of the spear looks like it'd be perfect for slotting into an atlatl.

Fascinating video. How sure are we that these were Neanderthal spears? I thought their shoulder anatomy was not so suitable for throwing. If archeologists say "modern humans weren't around then", I must counter that there are plenty of surprise discoveries that change timelines a little. Seeing you throw this thing really makes me realise the benefit of a bow and arrow is not just whatever tactical advantage it has, but that old men can shoot a bow. To get the most out of a javelin is a young mans game. That could have huge implications for the wider social pecking order in a tribe, how much wisdom gets to incubate for longer, how many capable hunters they can have in their ranks vs how many mouths to feed. The Australian Aboriginals had much thinner, lighter, wood-pointed spears, and used woomera spear thrower - I wonder how this technology fits in with the heavier javelin, what different animals they might be good for. The light spear and woomera combination seems to sit inbetween the javelin and the bow and arrow. Looking at you use the stone tools to make that spear, I can't help but think there must be/have been easier ways. You grind the spear on a larger rock, but I wonder if particular large rocks could be found that have wedges in them, V shaped or whatever, that you can drag the spear through to deburr all those branches off quicker. I also wonder if you could use fire a bit more, put the whole spear in a fire with the bark still on, control how much the fire takes hold. It might be able to burn away the twigs, parts of the bark.

That speer flies very good.

Me an my younger brother made these when we were 8 or 10 yrs old, now mid 60's, never knew they had a name. But we grew up in the swamps of Fla an used local hardwoods, an they were effective. Fire hardened the tips also, but what do kids know, we were copying zulu spears as thats all we knew about then. Now I would flint spearheads out of something if I had to. Thx for the vid tho.

Muy bien realizada 👍

Cool build. Some Neanderthals did use spears with stone tips as well though

Very nice

I live in the finger lakes region of NYS in between Buffalo and Rochester...I keep finding a wide variety of large spearheads and finely ground damn near paper thin knives and scrapers made from limestone... I've looked at museum collections and the back room research collections.. some of the heads are the size of my hand,I find zero cultural attribution to these anywhere, when I do see similar sometimes virtually the same tool, they are all from Europe and Africa and are a million years old.. The famous anthropologist Louis Leaky visited a site by the lakes in the 50 and said that aside from the lithic differences, that the stuff was so similar to neanderthal and older..we have sites older than 13000 years close by.. the certified genuine neanderthal tools I have,I have the same thing in a local stone, but no one has an interest because they are just limestone or don't fit in the timeline...gets frustrating

Nice demo, thanks. But that point doesn't look like it will penetrate hide. How sharp a point can you make 'hardened wood' before it becomes too fragile?

Great throws you made there.😮 I had heard the tip could be hardened by thrusting it into the coals/dirt below the fire where there was less oxygen. Then again it is just something I heard. 🤗🙄🤗

Donny that was brilliant. Like many outdoorsman we all have an interest in ancient man, being in the UK for me it’s a fascination with Doggerland below the now North Sea. But seeing you build these things is like putting flesh back into old bones and bringing it to life. Really appreciate what you’re doing and admire the time and dedication it takes for you to produce each of these amazing items. You’ve already had me out there smashing rocks together wondering how does Donny do this 🤔

Neanderthals were a lot smarter than people tend to give them credit for, huh?

I've always imagined homo X, Y, Z whichever group it is we're talking about at the time to kinda production lining a lot of this stuff. If you've got 10 prospective shafts that need debarking have the kids do that, save the adult labour resources for more precision based stuff like hardening, straightening, pointing etc. I reckon a lot of tools and weapons were worked intermittently in bulk on and off especially if you routinely have certain members of a group that separate to go off and hunt, fish, gather, patrol or whatever else. A lot of spears were probably worked on by different people, including women and kids.

The Schönigen spears cover a considerable span of time. The earlier examples were likely employed by Heidelberg rather Neanderthal. The lesson they offer is that the technology is conservative and quite slow in changing. Neanderthals are generally more clicky, but there were others before, around, and after. The Denisovans would have used identical javelins, and similar weapons were made into the 19th century. In fact, smaller examples, with feathers were used as arrows.

They might have employed an ankyle, a throwing strap to it to increase the power of the throw. And the back end could have been used for thrusting making it a spear-javelin hybrid.

...after that: the atlatl. Someone's arm started hurting

I absolutely enjoy your content it's fun and informative, I live your dedication to doing things in this style where most people would have just used a modern knife

You had a few really good throws during the video. Do you suppose the users were fairly close to their targets? Just wondering about penetration and too far a throw not having enough velocity to puncture the animal hide?

Wonderful video, thank you 😊The tip seems really rather broad and blunt. Do you think that they may have had a keener point and had to replenish or replace them more often or would the tip shape in this video have enough mass behind it to puncture the game's hide?

I really appreciate your videos i always learn something new thank you. What is the penatration like with this spear i know lots of factors would go into it this would be fun to do some testing with carcass or ballistic gel i dont know but would be cool to find out thank you again

I'm going to have a go at this in the near future. Although being from Australia I might have to try a different type of timber. Maybe a sheoak. The indigenous Aussies used that for other weapons and I've made boomerangs out of it before that performed pretty well. Love your videos

just saw a documentary about these spears, the point was off center where the wood is a little harder. Great respect for your work and ability. Question: were these spears thrown or were they maid for stabbing?

You have to wonder, though we'll probably never know, if the Neanderthals used throwing leathers [amentum] with these, because, even if there were some good distances on the video, that's a fair lump of wood to be throwing for effect against a big, thick skinned, quarry. Despite the popular image of knuckle dragging cavemen, Neanderthals weren't stupid, and throwing leathers have been used across the centuries and around the world. They were in still fact being used into the early modern era by the gallowglass in Ireland, and one features in the portrait of Captain Thomas Lee [1594] in gallowglass garb..

Shaped like a javelin but that flexible bouncy shaft is gonna fly and act more like an arrow.

Nice video. What kind of wood did you use? To me it looks quite heavy for a pine tree. The originals were made of very light and not very hard wood (due to availability i propose). Wouldn't it be easier to plain the branches, before you remove the bough? I habe no experience with flint tools, but that is what I would have done.

10:53 I had this same thought when you were throwing the spear. These had to be thrown in a group volley at an intended target(s). Definitely effective, also highlighting how hunting would be a group effort. I think that they probably also used used some runners to guide a herd of ungulates into a box canyon where a group of spear hurlers could maximize their harvest by casting volleys of spears into a traffic jam of meat. No reason why a hunting party couldn't carry two or three per person.

Gotta remember too, Neanderthals were more robust physically than us, they would've had more strength to throw a spear like that a lot farther and with more force.

Couldn't stop smiling when you started throwing it. You can really tell this technology had already been in use for hundreds of thousands of years. Just out of curiosity, how old are your tattoo sleeves? They're very faded.

Hey Donny, I've been following you for a while and love the videos. This might be asked before, but I'd like to know, what kind of shoes do you wear or what do you recommend to wear when you hike a lot?

Super awesome spear. You should make a stone axe

In the first 30 seconds there is a bit of a construction error, and another later when it comes to the point. The Schöningen spears used the base of the sapling, with the more dense and hard portion near the roots used as the point. This is for durability and potentially slightly affects how the balance is sorted out. This may also play a part in flexibility, vibration, and impact resistance. The point in the originals was intentionally placed off center which assists in preventing breaking. In this recreation the point is centrally placed. Reference: Schoch, et al 2015 New insights on the wooden weapons from the Paleolithic site of Schöningen

If you take a large stone and bust out a sort of crescent divot from it with a big rock, then that can be used to strip off those side branches more easily than going one at a time with a flake. Similar to the sanding down process. You just have to be careful to pull the right direction so as not to run the fibre down the grain.

Super interesting. How many hours of practice did it take to learn to throw straight?

An easier way to get the twigs off even from the beginning would be to rub it on a rock like you did later on. Even better would be if you could find two large rocks with a wedge between them to run the spear back and forth through. That would take all the twigs off. You could use a large rock to beat on each nub so it doesn't stick out so far making scraping them off with flakes much easier.

Not contradicting you, but the fact that it’s heavier on one end would be a product of the way the tree grows, how do you know that’s indicative off throwing

With even a small stone point that would be an effective boar spear. The only thing that surprised me was you didn't use the antler to polish the front third, while not able to be determined in the archeological evidence, polishing would certainly be a good move to aid in strength and, potentially, in penetration. Even if it only goes a 16th of an inch deeper because of polishing, that could be the difference between clipping an artery and getting a meal or sitting by that campfire with a growling belly.

You walked through your block throughout your demo

I would think a coarse flat or slightly rounded boulder with a notch could be a faster & easier way to rough in the shape of the shaft. This would let you grind the shaft like low grit sand paper to knock down the stubs & bark using minimal energy vs the flake sawing. Love the tree vice & shaping for sure. Super clean. The fire hardening does introduce some carbon as well as a small portion of that becoming graphite which will genuinely harden it slightly beyond that of dried wood.