Posted on 06/11/2011 9:44:00 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The Palaeolithic -- or Old Stone Age -- tool, which could be anything between 100,000 and 450,000 years old, is one of only ten ever to be found in Scotland. The axe, which was found on a stretch of shore in St Ola by a local man walking along the beach, is the oldest man-made artefact ever found in Orkney. The stone tool, which is around five-and-a-half inches long, has been broken, and originally would have tapered to a point opposite the cutting edge, but at some point in time, the point broke off and someone reworked the flint to its present straight edge. Orkney-based archaeologist Caroline Wickham-Jones... a lecturer in archaeology at Aberdeen University, said: "This axe is definitely older than 100,000 years -- so old it's become geology. It was made and used an incredibly long time ago -- pre-Ice Age -- and whoever made it would have been familiar with animals long since extinct -- the woolly mammoth, for example... I don't think the axe is made on the islands as there is not enough flint here to produce such a big block of stone. But it would be possible that they had taken with them from somewhere else, or traded it with other people. That would explain why it was reworked after it was broken." ...The Palaeolithic -- or Old Stone Age -- started about 2.6 million years ago and lasted till the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 BCE... In Britain, the earliest evidence of human activity dates from about 700,000 years ago. The earliest proof of people in Scotland dates from 14,000 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.stv.tv ...
Some archaeologists do that sort of thing regularly so that there are individuals who are known for it. It seems to have started because of speculation about how long it took to actually make those things and puzzlement that there were so many just left around at animal kills. They found out that with a lot pf practice they could make the points fast enough that they were, indeed, disposable. A lot of points were not removed from carcasses and reused.
Well, in the stone age they didn’t have TV and the www to burn up their time. ;’)
The axe, which was found on a stretch of shore in St Ola by a local man walking along the beach...
The 'local man' was immediately arrested by Scotland Yard for Possession of a Deadly Weapon and is being held without bail. The Police are looking for possible connections between this local man and unsolved Axe Murders that go back to 400,000 B.C.
When asked by reporters for a comment, Scotland Yard Inspector John Barrymoore Smythwilkessonjun said: "We can't be too careful nowadays. People just can't go around willy-nilly alleged;y 'finding axes on a beach'."
is a book I found quite fascinating; one of the points I found quite fascinating is that while the US of course traces from British culture, it is quite distinct as well. And the reason for that was the particular British colonial experience, which related to the particulars of their situation. The Spaniards, Portuguese, and French also colonized the Americas, but their experiences were different and their objectives were different.
- American Beliefs:
- What Keeps a Big Country and a Diverse People United by John Harmon McElroy
The Spaniards actually found bronze age countries in South America, which they conquered as they would have liked to conquer England. And since those countries were already going concerns, there was no call for importing many farmers or tradesmen from Spain. Only gentlemen and soldiers were needed.
The Portuguese did import labor - but they wanted unskilled labor, and they imported it from Africa as slaves. No Portuguese were needed.
The French in Canada wanted to trade with the "Indians," and to control navigation on the St. Laurence River. Again, all they needed were a few traders, and soldiers and leadership loyal to the king of France.
The English, OTOH, found only potential farmland and stone age Indians. Not much in the way of gold or silver, but an enormous opportunity for farmers and supporting tradesmen. Consequently the English, later British, colonies quickly adopted an ethic which says that "all honest work is honorable." Calluses on the hands have always been badges of honor among American men. We didn't get that attitude from England.
And it traces back to the fact that the Indians were stone age people.
i wonder how they put the axe handle on? it doesnt look like it has a narrow neck for easy attachment.
split a branch and wrap it around?
ok. handaxe. so, no handle i guess.
Thank our FRiend SunkenCiv. :-)
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I have a “glacier check.” I can redeem in in 10,000 years.
We have a collection of similar stones found in southern Texas and northern Mexico but none as big as the one pictured.
Your “stone hot dog” might have been used for rolling something out flat. I found a stone needle or something used for punching a hole in leather, possibly.
Looks like a hammer to me, but then, so does most everything.
:’D
I don’t know.
Maybe it also traces back to the fact that most of the early colonists were not well educated academics or tradesmen, but rather common laborers of one sort or another.
We have had discussions on FreeRepublic about the fact that geneticists have identified a gene that is described as a risk taking gene, a gene that actually identifies an inherited tendency toward risk taking, excitement seeking, adventure. I think that many of the early colonists that came to America possessed this gene and it drove them to a life of hard work, adventure and the drive to seek new horizons.
Looking back at my ancestors, the drive for adventure and risk taking was not always connected to a drive for wealth, but simply a life style choice. My ancestors came to this country in 1632 and had spread across the country to WA and Oregon by the end of the Civil War. Everywhere I go, I find people who are related to me through my grandmother.
I have another interesting stone, it’s small, with a hole in the center top and grooves where line or something must have been wrapped around it, possibly a sinker for fishing, since it was found on the beach. We also have a collection of round rocks that resemble soft balls. I am told that they were known as fire rocks and were used for ceremonial purposes around the edge of fires. I was also told that I was not permitted to pick them up and take them. Too late.
Ha ha! I have been warned to not pick up pottery shards in New Mexico but I picked them up anyway. Some of us just cannot help ourselves. LOL!
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