Editing Harz (section)

=== Pre-history and early history ===
About 700,000 to 350,000 years ago ''[[Homo erectus]]'' hunted in and around the Harz near [[Bilzingsleben]] (Thuringia), [[Hildesheim]] and [[Schöningen]] (Lower Saxony). The [[Neanderthal]]s entered the stage about 250,000 years ago and hunted [[aurochs]], [[bison]], [[brown bear]] and [[cave bear]], [[mammoth]]s, [[Rhinoceros|rhinos]], [[horse]]s, [[reindeer]], [[forest elephant]]s and other animals in the Harz region. Tools used by Neanderthals were discovered ''inter alia'' in the Einhorn Cave in the southern Harz (100,000 years ago) and in the Rübeland Caves. Finds of [[birch pitch]] near Aschersleben on the northern edge of the Harz point to the use of this prehistoric [[adhesive]] by Neanderthals about 50,000 years ago. The [[Upper Palaeolithic Revolution]], about 40,000 years ago, saw ''Homo sapiens'' move from Africa into Europe, including to the Harz region, where they appear to have ousted the Neanderthals and subsequently settled here.

Many discoveries in the Harz, such as the bronze club of Thale, which was found by the ''[[Roßtrappe]]'', could indicate an earlier Celtic occupation of the Harz.<ref>Vgl. {{citation|surname1=Urte Dally|editor-surname1=Harald Meller|periodical=Der Geschmiedete Himmel|title=Heilige Waffen im Harz – die Keule von Thale und der Zinken von Welbsleben |publisher=Theiss|publication-place=Stuttgart|pages=108f|isbn=3-8062-1907-9|date=  2004|language=de}}</ref>