TY - JOUR

T1 - Schöningen: a reference site for the Middle Pleistocene

AU - Serangeli, Jordi

AU - Verheijen, Ivo

AU - Rodríguez-Álvarez, Bárbara

AU - Altamura, Flavio

AU - Bigga, Gerlinde

AU - Schoch, Werner H.

AU - Urban, Brigitte

AU - van Kolfschoten, Thijs

AU - Venditti, Flavia

AU - Conard, Nicholas J.

N1 - Special Issue: "Conference Proceedings - 40 Years of Casal de’ Pazzi in the framework of Pleistocene archeo-paleontological sites (400,000-40,000 BP): current knowledge and new research perspectives" . Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Universita' degli Studi di Roma 'La Sapienza'. All rights reserved.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Due to the exceptional preservation conditions, as well as the number and significance of the finds discovered, Schöningen in northern Germany stands out as a uniquely informative Middle Pleistocene site-complex. More than 20 archeological and 10 paleontological sites embedded in the shoreline sediments of a paleolake have preserved natural and anthropogenically modified wood, bones, and stones. A combination of data acquired from geological, stratigraphic, palynological, and faunal analysis, coupled with various direct dating methods, have indicated an age of ca. 300,000 years BP, corresponding to MIS 9. The lithic technology corresponds to the late Lower Paleolithic and is therefore consistent with these dates. This article gives an overview of the site-complex, of the most important discoveries at Schöningen, and describes the discovery of a nearly complete straight-tusked elephant skeleton (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) in an archeological context. Contextualized among contemporaneous archeological discoveries, the finds at Schöningen contribute significantly to our understanding of the late Lower Paleolithic in Europe.

AB - Due to the exceptional preservation conditions, as well as the number and significance of the finds discovered, Schöningen in northern Germany stands out as a uniquely informative Middle Pleistocene site-complex. More than 20 archeological and 10 paleontological sites embedded in the shoreline sediments of a paleolake have preserved natural and anthropogenically modified wood, bones, and stones. A combination of data acquired from geological, stratigraphic, palynological, and faunal analysis, coupled with various direct dating methods, have indicated an age of ca. 300,000 years BP, corresponding to MIS 9. The lithic technology corresponds to the late Lower Paleolithic and is therefore consistent with these dates. This article gives an overview of the site-complex, of the most important discoveries at Schöningen, and describes the discovery of a nearly complete straight-tusked elephant skeleton (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) in an archeological context. Contextualized among contemporaneous archeological discoveries, the finds at Schöningen contribute significantly to our understanding of the late Lower Paleolithic in Europe.

KW - hunting

KW - Late Lower Paleolithic

KW - Middle Pleistocene

KW - MIS 9

KW - Palaeoloxodon antiquus

KW - straight-tusked elephant

KW - Engineering

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173573777&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/mediterranean_earth_sciences/issue/view/1651

UR - https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/mediterranean_earth_sciences/article/view/18154

U2 - 10.13133/2280-6148/18154

DO - 10.13133/2280-6148/18154

M3 - Conference article in journal

AN - SCOPUS:85173573777

VL - 15

SP - 369

EP - 387

JO - Journal of Mediterranean Earth Sciences

JF - Journal of Mediterranean Earth Sciences

SN - 2037-2272

T2 - 40 Years of Casal de Pazzi

Y2 - 30 March 2022 through 1 April 2022

ER -