Schöningen

Infobox German Location
Art = town
Wappen = Wappen Schoeningen.pnglat_deg = 52 |lat_min = 07 |lat_sec = 59
lon_deg = 10 |lon_min = 56 |lon_sec = 59
Bundesland = Niedersachsen
Landkreis = Helmstedt
Höhe = 114
Fläche = 35.36
Einwohner = 12719
Stand = 2006-12-31
PLZ = 38364
Vorwahl = 05352
Kfz = HE
Gemeindeschlüssel = 03 1 54 019
Website = [http://www.schoeningen.de/ www.schoeningen.de]
Bürgermeister = Matthias Wunderling-Weilbier
Partei = Ind.

Schöningen is a city of 13,000 inhabitants (2005) in the district of Helmstedt, Lower Saxony, Germany. In its current form, it was created in 1974 by joining the municipalities of Esbeck, Hoiersdorf, and Schöningen.

The main industry in Schöningen is open-cast mining of lignite, which is used for electricity generation in the Buschhaus plant. Both mining and generation are operated by E.ON subdivisions, open-cast mining will be closed down in 2015. The Buschhaus plant now inhibits three lines of thermal waste treatment.

History

The first historical mentioning of Schöningen was in 748. In the 14th century, Schöningen became a city; at the same time the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg built a palace here.

In archaeology, Schöningen is famous for seven palaeolithic wooden spears found in an opencast mine near the town. The spears are about 400,000 years old (Klein. 2005. p114), and are the world's oldest known wooden artifacts. They were found in combination with the remains of about 20 wild horses, whose bones contain numerous butchery marks. This is considered proof that early humans were active hunters.

Twin towns

Schöningen is twinned with:
*flagicon|Tunisia Beni Hassen, Monastir Governorate, Tunisia
*flagicon|Germany Oschersleben, Germany
*flagicon|Finland Outokumpu, Finland
*flagicon|Ukraine Zolochiv, Ukraine

References

KLEIN, R. 2005. Hominin dispersals in the old world. In Scarre, C (ed.) The human past: World prehistory and the development of human societies. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

External links

* [http://www.schoeningen.de/ Official site]
* [http://www.schoeningerspeere.de/ Schöningen Spears Project]