130 Hamburg-Billwerder
In 1991, the collector Günter Rumer discovered a projectile point during gravel extraction in Billwerder, which he donated to the museum. It was made from the bone chip of a larger mammal, probably a horse, or elk. As spear points, the hunters of the Ice Age Hamburg culture used such bone points when hunting reindeer. The tip from Billwerder is the oldest evidence of a long-distance weapon in northern Germany to date.
Info: Showcase 130
Projectile Tip
Age: um 13.000 v. Chr. Palaeolithic period
Palaeolithic period: Even before temperatures rose noticeably at the end of the last ice age, the first reindeer hunters roamed the North German Plain. The open steppe landscape of this time offered a rich supply of huntable game, including reindeer and other steppe animals such as the wild horse. The spear sling served as an important hunting weapon, giving the spear greater range and penetrating power with the leverage used by the thrower. With a warming of the climate and the disappearance of reindeer from Central and Western Europe, the most recent period of the Paleolithic Age ended 10,000 years ago.
Material: Animal Bone
Location: HH-Billwerder