Sediments, pollen, seeds, diverse wooden finds, the remains of large and small mammals, fish, birds and insects allow a detailed reconstruction of the environment and its climate during the interglacially warmer period between the Elster and the Saale glaciations. Man-made flint tools, bone and wooden artefacts and numerous bones with cut and/or impact marks allow a completely new insight into the culture of hominins active in this period.

The excavation and research project were initiated at the beginning of the 1980s under the overall direction of Dr. Hartmut Thieme from the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Sites in Hanover (NLD). In 1992, the first worked wooden artefacts were recovered at the site Schöningen 12 II-1 and interpreted as probable wooden shafts used in connection with the mounting of stone artefacts. In the autumn of 1994 a wooden artefact was recovered at the site Schöningen 13 II-4, very probably a throwing stick but this has never been until now scientifically proven. This was followed by the recovery of 10 spears and other worked woods between 1995 and 1999 including the so called “Roasting spit”.