This story appeared in the September/October 2020 of Discover magazine as "An Athletic Evolution." We hope you’ll subscribe to Discover and help support science journalism at a time when it’s needed the most.
Archaeologist Annemieke Milks planned to test the ballistic properties of some of the world’s oldest spears. Crafted by Neanderthals 300,000 years ago, the wooden artifacts measure about 7 feet long and resemble oversized broomsticks with sharpened tips. When discovered in the 1990s at a site in Schöningen, Germany, they rested alongside the butchered remains of 35 horses. Apparently, Neanderthals, armed with the spears, had some very successful hunts.
But just how fast and far could these ancient weapons soar?
Milks wanted the answers, so she commissioned a woodworker to carve replicas from dense spruce. Yet to do the experiment right, Milks needed study participants who could throw like their lives depended on it. Neanderthals were, after all, hunter-gatherers, who killed their daily meals with spears and other primitive technology. Put a spear into the hands of most people today and they’d go hungry.
