The metapodial hammers from the Lower Palaeolithic site of Schöningen 13 II-4 (Germany): The results of experimental research

Abstract

Bones tools have been used by hominins for over a million years and are found in a broad array of shapes and sizes. The function of metapodia exhibiting battering damage on epiphyses from the Lower Palaeolithic site of Schöningen 13 II-4, however, was unknown when they were first described in 2008. Crushing, chipping, and flaking damage on lateral and medial epicondyles was originally ascribed to stone tool production and/or maintenance. A detailed re-examination of the metapodia assemblage, however, did not result in the discovery of small flint particles embedded in the battered surfaces, a common feature in bones from Schöningen that have been used to knap flint. While recent experiments have demonstrated the effective use of metapodia in flint working, they did not produce the characteristic battering damage on the epicondyles when purely working flint. An alternative explanation for the use of metapodia was found in ethnography: the Nunamiut frequently used reindeer metapodia as hammers to fracture other limb bones. It was therefore hypothesised that the metapodia from Schöningen were used as hammers to fracture other limb bones in order to gain access to bone marrow. Actualistic experiments with fresh horse bones presented in this paper verify this hypothesis; horse metapodia were effective tools to break open other limb bones and the metapodia sustained the characteristic battering damage that is observed in the fossil record of Schöningen. Whether the metapodial hammers are the product of incidental improvisation or a quickly abandoned innovation during the transition from the Lower to the Middle Palaeolithic remains unclear.