The wooden artifacts from Schöningen's Spear Horizon and their place in human evolution.

Ethnographic records show that wooden tools played a pivotal role in the daily lives of hunter-gatherers including food procurement tools used in hunting (e.g., spears, throwing sticks) and gathering (e.

First direct evidence of lion hunting and the early use of a lion pelt by Neanderthals.

During the Upper Paleolithic, lions become an important theme in Paleolithic art and are more frequent in anthropogenic faunal assemblages. However, the relationship between hominins and lions in earlier periods is poorly known and primarily interpreted as interspecies competition. Here we present new evidence for Neanderthal-cave lion interactions during the Middle Paleolithic.

A double-pointed wooden throwing stick from Schöningen, Germany: Results and new insights from a multianalytical study.

The site of Schöningen (Germany), dated to ca. 300,000 years ago, yielded the earliest large-scale record of humanly-made wooden tools. These include wooden spears and shorter double-pointed sticks, discovered in association with herbivores that were hunted and butchered along a lakeshore.

Non-Destructive Evaluation of the Cutting Surface of Hardwood Finger Joints.

In this study, the surface parameters wettability, roughness, and adhesive penetration, which are important for wood bonding, were investigated and evaluated utilizing non-destructive methods after different mechanical processing. For this purpose, beech and birch finger joints were prepared with different cutting combinations (three cutters with different sharpness levels and two feed rates) in an industrial process. Effects and interactions on the surface parameters resulting from the different cutting combinations were evaluated using three Full Factorial Designs.

A 51,000-year-old engraved bone reveals Neanderthals' capacity for symbolic behaviour.

While there is substantial evidence for art and symbolic behaviour in early Homo sapiens across Africa and Eurasia, similar evidence connected to Neanderthals is sparse and often contested in scientific debates. Each new discovery is thus crucial for our understanding of Neanderthals' cognitive capacity. Here we report on the discovery of an at least 51,000-year-old engraved giant deer phalanx found at the former cave entrance of Einhornhöhle, northern Germany.

Three-dimensional imaging of xylem at cell wall level through near field nano holotomography.

Detailed imaging of the three-dimensionally complex architecture of xylary plants is important for studying biological and mechanical functions of woody plants. Apart from common two-dimensional microscopy, X-ray micro-computed tomography has been established as a three-dimensional (3D) imaging method for studying the hydraulic function of wooden plants. However, this X-ray imaging method can barely reach the resolution needed to see the minute structures (e.

Three-Dimensional Exploration of Soft-Rot Decayed Conifer and Angiosperm Wood by X-Ray Micro-Computed Tomography.

X-ray micro-computed tomography (XμCT) was used to explore the decomposed structure of conifer and angiosperm wood after colonization by soft-rot fungi. The visualization of degradation features of soft-rot decay was challenging to achieve through XμCT. Difficulties in visualization emerged due to a decreased grayscale contrast (i.

Volumetric estimate of bordered pits in Pinus sylvestris based on X-ray tomography and light microscopy imaging.

Bordered pits are a major determinant for the hydraulic function of wood tissues. Unlike microscopic imaging (e.g.

Tomographic analysis of siliceous particulates in Australian turpentine wood (Syncarpia glomulifera) through X-ray micro-computed tomography.

X-ray micro-computed tomography (XμCT) allows a non-destructive and three-dimensional (3D) study of otherwise complex and opaque wood tissues. In wood research, XμCT datasets are highly useful for the qualitative and quantitative examination of wood structures. In this study, XμCT was introduced and tested for examining X-ray dense silica particles in the Australian turpentine wood (Syncarpia glomulifera).

Morphological imaging and quantification of axial xylem tissue in Fraxinus excelsior L. through X-ray micro-computed tomography.

The popularity of X-ray based imaging methods has continued to increase in research domains. In wood research, X-ray micro-computed tomography (XμCT) is useful for structural studies examining the three-dimensional and complex xylem tissue of trees qualitatively and quantitatively. In this study, XμCT made it possible to visualize and quantify the spatial xylem organization of the angiosperm species Fraxinus excelsior L.