Schöningen site

The site was initially excavated between 1994 and 1999, after having been found at an overcast mine near Schöningen in Lower Saxony, Germany.

[4] Other animals found in this layer do not display evidence of butchery, and likely accumulated naturally, these include: red deer, roe deer, European wild ass, aurochs, steppe bison, wild boar, Irish elk, Merck's rhinoceros and the narrow-nosed rhinoceros,[5][2] straight-tusked elephant[3] grey wolves, red foxes, stoats, least weasels,[2] and the sabretooth cat Homotherium (among the youngest records of the genus in Eurasia),[6] along with the European beaver and the extinct giant beaver Trogontherium, with small mammals including water voles, pygmy shrews, desmans, the European mole, the Narrow-headed, tundra, short-tailed field, common, European pine, European water and bank voles, along with the Norway lemming.

[5] At layer 13 II-3, which is below the spear horizon,[7] a mostly complete skeleton of an adult female (approximately 50 year old) straight-tusked elephant was found, which was found with natural fragments of flint which have wear indicating that they were used to butcher the elephant.

The site displays no evidence of hunting, and it is suggested that the elephant died of natural causes and was later scavenged by humans.

Overall, the animal lay parallel to the former lake shore with the head in the north and the rear in the south.