News Archaeology

Neandertals may have hunted in horse-trapping teams 200,000 years ago

New dating of Germany’s Schöningen site rewrites the timeline of complex group behavior

an image of wild horses

Neandertals organized in teams and wielding wooden spears ambushed horses at an ancient lakeshore about 200,000 years ago, a new study finds.

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By Bruce Bower

Neandertals formed sophisticated hunting parties that drove wild horses into fatal traps around 200,000 years ago.

At Germany’s Schöningen site, wooden spears, double-pointed sticks, stone artifacts and butchered remains of more than 50 horses of various ages are some 100,000 years younger than previously thought, researchers report May 9 in Science Advances.