Posted on 06/08/2005 11:08:52 AM PDT by blam
400,000-year-old stone tools discovered in Mazandaran
TEHRAN, June 8 (MNA) -- Recent discoveries by a team of archaeologists indicate that the coast of the Caspian Sea in Mazandaran Province was home to the earliest hominid habitation in that region.
Archaeologist Ali Mahforuzi said on Wednesday that 400,000-year-old stone tools discovered in the valleys of Shuresh near the Rostam Kola, Huto, and Kamarband caves are the oldest ever found in the area.
The previous studies had dated human settlement in the region to have begun about 50,000 years ago.
“The recent studies conducted by a joint team of archaeologists from the Mazandaran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department and archaeologists from the Mazandaran National Museum led to the discovery of several stone tools.
“The primary studies on the tools did not reveal their exact age, so the tools were sent to Professor Marcel Otte of the University of Liege in Belgium. He happened to be in Iran and he dated the tools to be 400,000 years old,” Mahforuzi explained.
Archaeologists are currently following up their studies to learn more about the people who made the tools.
Out of Iran?
Wow. That ought to advance Iranian technology light years!
How did the mullahs miss this? This doesn't square with the kornran.........
Hhhmmmmmm - 400,000 years old? Humans?
What makes a stone a tool and not a rock broken in half?
Previous post about Mazandaran:
Ancient Tombs Of Unknown Etnic Group Discovered In Mazarandan (Iran)
I dont believe it.
Yeah, me neither. Scientists love to play with dates, don't they?
Stone tools are often made of flint and have tiny workings on them that could only be man made, or specific shapes not caused naturally..such as an arrowhead.
LOL - I've often wondered that myself.
No - I'm suggesting the dates may be wrong. That is, if they are in fact tools.
Diidnt they tell us the Clovis was the 1st tool? 10,000 years old? I think they guess too much..which wouldnt bother me if they admitted it.
Not Homo sapiens, late H. erectus or a very early neanderthalensis.
I think there are some RINO's that would qualify as the first tools.
This is where the 400K number came from. Give the stone tools to me and I will 'date' them to whatever age you desire.
Absolutely not. The recently discovered 'Hobbits' in Indonesia had well worn 80,000 year old shell necklaces buried with them. That's a problem because the 'Hobbits' were declared to be Homo-Erectus but, they weren't suppose to be smart enough to make necklaces.
The stone tools that are usually claimed to be as old as this, actually I will amend that to ALL stone tools as old as these, are NOT flint and do not have workings on them and are not in the shape of arrow heads, especially arrow heads since the bow wasn't invented until about 10,000 years ago, or spear heads. Usually they have an edge that could easily have been made by natural causes.
They will have a small edge running down a part of the tool and the scientists claim they are primative axes etc. All the ones I have seen that are supposed to be tools of this age are indistinquishable from ordianry rocks that have broken in some natural manner. IMO.
I was wondering where I left those tools.
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