Giant deer bone of Einhornhöhle

The Einhorn Cave near Scharzfeld is considered to be the key site for research into Neanderthals in northern Germany.[1] Since 2019, archaeologists from the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation have been conducting excavations there with the Unicornu fossile society, the operating association of the unicorn cave.[2] The Excavations are being conducted in the Jacob Friesen passage, in which hundreds of Neanderthal stone artifacts were already recovered during the 1980s. This passage leads to a buried cave entrance, which is also being excavated. Its entrance portal collapsed about 10,000 years ago. Protected under the collapse of the ceiling made of stone and earth material, the bone artefact lay in a well-preserved Neanderthal cultural layer amidst the remains of hunting prey. The engraved bone was dated to be around 51,000 years old, making it the oldest piece of art ever found in Europe.[3][4][5]

The excavation manager of Einhornhöhle Dirk Leder from the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments.

The find is a toe bone of a giant deer, about six centimeters long, four centimeters wide and three centimeters thick. On one side it features an angular line pattern of six engravings up to three centimeters long. Another pattern of four short engravings has been worked into the lower area. The bone can be placed vertically. Investigations using 3D microscopy showed that these are not battle marks, but intentionally incorporated notches. A radiocarbon dating of the bone gave an age of around 51,000 years.[6]

The researchers assume that the Neanderthals deliberately chose bones of the giant deer for their engraving because it was an imposing animal with antlers almost four meters wide. To determine the cost of the engraving, the researchers conducted experimental archaeology on the foot bone of modern-day cattle, which is comparable to that of the giant deer. They showed that the bone first had to be boiled in order to be able to engrave the softened surface of the bone with stone implements . This took about 1.5 hours for the sample.[2]

The Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments at the University of Göttingen, the Technical University of Braunschweig, the Universities of Kiel and Tübingen and the Free University of Berlin were involved in the research project. The research was funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture as part of the "PRO Lower Saxony" program.[2]

The decorated piece of bone is around 10,000 years older than previous finds of Upper Palaeolithic art, and previous finds have been attributable to modern humans, who only arrived in Central Europe about 40,000 years ago.

According to Thomas Terberger from the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the Seminar for Prehistory and Early History at the University of Göttingen, the find shows that the Neanderthals produced complex signs before the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which suggests considerable cognitive abilities. The processed piece of bone speaks for the creative power of the Neanderthal and that he communicated at least through symbols. It is an indication that the Neanderthals had an aesthetic sensibility.[7] Terberger considers the bone from the cave to be an outstanding testimony from the time of the Neanderthals in Lower Saxony and for one of the most important finds from the time of the Neanderthals in Central Europe.[8] The paleontologist Silvia Bello from London's Natural History Museum sees the find as one of the most complex artistic expressions of Neanderthals.[9]