Little visitors, and financial loss - with the Paläon a child of the lower Saxony Museum landscape in Schöningen, for a long time. It looks after the reboot different.

Schöningen (dpa) - With a vertebral bone of the unusual findings in the September of 2017 had started - in the meantime archaeologists have unearthed in Schöningen, a nearly complete skeleton of a Eurasian forest elephants free.

their findings to the animal that died, 300,000 years in the environment in the Kreis of Helmstedt, presented Schöningen the scientists in the research Museum.

Paleolithic excavation site

Many of the bones were preserved, as most of the finds from the Paleolithic site of excavation, extremely well, said the excavation Director, Jordi Serangeli at a meeting in the former brown coal open-cast mining. He was optimistic to find the Rest of the animal. "The best Fund is always in the next square," said Serangali. Therefore, the search goes on gently on this little space on the vast grounds.

On the previous findings, experts from the Senckenberg were-the center for human Evolution and Palaeoenvironments at the University of Tübingen in cooperation with the lower Saxony state office for monument preservation (NLD) involved. Their findings, the scientists published in the journal "archaeology in Germany". To the head of research Nicholas Conard is far from clear: "Wikipedia is an unbeatable place".

The found bones of the elephant cow to be examined by the doctoral students as the Dutchman Ivo Verheijen and in the research Museum restored. Visitors can visit there. In 2022, then it should be a great exhibition with a focus on these animals, such as the NLD-President Christina Krafczyk announced.

Larger than today's African Elephants

As with the bones, the researchers can tell the story of the elephant. "The animal with a shoulder height of about 3.2 meters and a weight of about 6.8 tons had," reported the archäozoo Lodge Verheijen. Thus, the animal is larger than today's African Elephants. Was the rest of the skeleton at a point where the lake was. The experts believe that in the Schöninger lake a number of fellows were on the road. You were able to document footprints in the vicinity.

Director of research Conard speaks of a renewed success for the site. As recently as a few weeks, the scientists had published their findings about a 300,000-year-old carved stick from the Paleolithic period, was found four years ago during excavations. In addition to the so-called Schöninger spears from spruce and pine wood, and a shock lance is part of the throwing wood to the oldest known completely preserved hunting weapons in the world.

The progress for the research Museum of the Schöningen at the right time. The device was only passed last summer, the much-criticized Paläon forth. Opened in 2013, the adventure centre had cost 15 million Euro, because of the high cost of the beginning in the criticism. Visitor numbers declined steadily from about 70,000 to around 30,000 people per year. Without a permanent funding through the Land of a future would have been difficult to imagine, it was in 2019, when the land office took over for monument care of the Director.

research Museum Schöningen