Posted on 09/01/2021 11:40:02 AM PDT by Red Badger
As far as Lower Paleolithic archaeology goes, this is quite the haul: Experts have uncovered a record 98 elephant-bone tools at a site dating back some 400,000 years. This discovery could change our thinking on how some of the early humans – such as Neanderthals – fashioned implements like these.
The bones were collected from a place called Castel di Guido, close to modern-day Rome. In the dim and distant past, it was a popular watering hole for the now-extinct straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), and it looks as though a substantial number of the animals died there too.
This newly identified collection of tools shows the ancient hominids of Castel di Guido didn't waste the bones that were left, but instead set up a primitive production line with methods that we haven't previously seen this far back in time, at least not to this extent.
"We see other sites with bone tools at this time," says archaeologist Paola Villa, from the University of Colorado Boulder. "But there isn't this variety of well-defined shapes."
"At Castel di Guido, humans were breaking the long bones of the elephants in a standardized manner and producing standardized blanks to make bone tools. This kind of aptitude didn't become common until much later."
elephant bones 2 The Castel di Guido site. (Villa et al., PLOS One, 2021)
Based on the evidence gathered from other sites, early humans would usually just make use of whatever bone fragments were available, without refining or adapting them – but at Castel di Guido, it was different.
The technique they used is known as percussion flaking, or chipping off bits of bone with a separate implement to make specific tools. Stone tools would have been shaped in a similar way, and they were much more common at this time, which makes the discovery of 98 bone tools such a surprise.
That's not to say the ancient humans living here were particularly 'smart', the researchers note. The explanation might simply be that they had a lot more elephant bones to work with than other groups, and less access to naturally occurring, large pieces of flint for making stone tools instead.
The tools they produced included ones that may have been used to slice through meat, as well as wedges that could have been deployed to create leverage for breaking up large bones like elephant femurs.
"First you make a groove where you can insert these heavy pieces that have a cutting edge," says Villa. "Then you hammer it, and at some point, the bone will break."
One of the most interesting tools discovered at the site is what's known as a lissoir: a bone that's long and smooth at one end, and would have been used to treat leather. These kinds of tools didn't become common until about 300,000 years ago.
A bone tool with a smooth edge and rounded tip A lissoir found at the site. (Villa et al., 2021, PLOS One)
Given the diversity of tool types here, and the techniques used to create them, archaeologists may have to recalibrate the timelines for when these instruments and their production methods were originally developed.
For now though, this seems like an isolated spurt of bone production technology. Based on the available evidence, the researchers think that Neanderthals occupied the site and produced the record-breaking number tools that have now been cataloged.
"About 400,000 years ago, you start to see the habitual use of fire, and it's the beginning of the Neanderthal lineage," says Villa. "This is a very important period for Castel di Guido."
The research has been published in PLOS One.
‘They need to concentrate on the habitual fire and brimstone that awaits the end of their own lineage if they haven’t put their faith in Jesus Christ.’
so the millions of people that existed before Anno Domini are all roasting in hell, are they...?
True, my dog was watching a science show yesterday and it caused her to go belly up. This however has bones in it. That’s good for them.
They will answer for their relationship with God BC. I’m not the judge of souls, just a messenger of what the Bible warns for those who choose satan over Jesus. There’s no fence sitting (lukewarm)as Jesus says to the churches in the book of Revelation.
I thought homo sapiens were just 30,000 years old.
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mDNA traces back to anatomically correct humans (us) 300,000 years ago. A couple of years ago, it was only 200,000 years ago
The better question is why is this article in Pets/Animals?
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What? Elephants, in addition to making great eating, are even better as pets. And they are, believe it or not, as old Ripley used to say, actually animals - just used ones. no biggy
I had a very long time ago 2 NC college roommates that believed the same thing - no arguing with them ; their minds are set in stone.
I have herd the miniature elephants are known as great pets. I guess that begs the question of whether their tusks are also good to carve into tiny tools.
Okay, let me see if I understand how this works?
In the beginning there was nothing?
And there was nothing for a very, very, very long time, almost forever?
As a matter of fact I guess it had been forever, right up until the time that "something" happened?
Then one day for no particular reason that anyone knows of "something" happened to "nothing" and it was the beginning of "everything."
As I understand it, that "something" is what "Evolutionary Scientists" now call the "Big Bang Theory."
So, where there was nothing forever, up until the Big Bang, then there was (almost) everything - Planets, Stars, Moons, Asteroids, Solar Systems, Black Holes, etc. All moving away from where the Big Bang took place at a very high rate of speed, mainly because of the big bang. Makes sense, right?
Then all of a sudden where there had only been darkness forever, (I guess because of the Big Bang), the Sun fired up “one day” and miracle upon miracles "Let there be light, there was actual "day"
And because there was light and heat, and with an indeterminate amount of Time (lots and lots of it) added to the equation chemical reactions began to take place, for no particular reason. And these chemical reactions created a prehistoric micro-organism which I'll just call Mike. Thus was life created.
Whoops, guess I skipped over a few things like the coincidental self-creation of all the building blocks of life, such as atoms, molecules, DNA, RNA, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and a whole bunch of other things all just the right mixture to provide an atmosphere on this big old thing we call Earth.
Anyway, so this micro-organism named Mike, I see it is ultimately the "father" of everything?
Recently, however the guy from the referenced videos below suggested that for some people, "Time" should be recognized as their preferred theoretical creator of everything. His supposition was (I think) that given enough time and with the correct ingredients anything is possible.
I don't know if it's true, but I have heard about another theory called "The Big Box Theory" that with a big enough box (a really big box), and the right parts in the box, that if the box could be shaken for long enough (Time) you could create, for instance, a Boeing 747 (just add gas), a computer, etc.
Sorry, but all that "Theory of Evolution" stuff is just too supernatural for my little pea brain. That requries too many miraculous coincidences without there actually being some sort of "plan." I just can't muster that much faith in the "Theory of Evolution" to become a believer. (However I must confess that once I was a believer, but realized that I had been scammed by people with an agenda and a theory with too many holes in it..)
Okay, if you have endured my snarky, amateurish, but very serious philosophizing about the "In the Beginning" and life and Evolution up to this point, "Thank you for your patience, my FRiend!"
Now if you really want to hear some really well reasoned “theories” about Evolution (or the lack of) take a few and give this guy a listen.
Maybe you can prove him wrong and restore my faith in Evolution, or time, or whatever. He makes a pretty good well reasoned argument for something besides Evolution.
I guess that begs the question of whether their tusks are also good to carve into tiny tools.
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I hear there is a huge underground market for tiny elephant tools ...
H. Heidelbergensis is thought to be the last common ancestor between H. Sapiens and H. Neanderthalensis. I often wonder if the superior species prevailed.
Neanderthal lineage.
Them dang Neanderthal’s. They were smart, by golly.
That’s not to say the ancient humans living here were particularly ‘smart’, the researchers note. The explanation might simply be that they had a lot more elephant bones to work with than other groups, and less access to naturally occurring, large pieces of flint for making stone tools instead.
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Interesting write up. The above paragraph seems to parallel what I saw in this area, but much, much later. I’ve een artifacts ranging back to about 10,000 years ago, not the 400,000 they are talking about, but in this area the majority of human manufactured tools and projectile points are made from petrified wood, which seems to have been the predominant material for this area.
A rock the size of your fist is not common around here, and some of the projectile points found were made from flint and chert from other parts of the country. Most local rock is more likely to be smaller than a golf ball. One in particular I found was made from a form of white chert only available in Arkansas, 5 hours away or so. some smaller projectile points from 4,000 years ago or less are made from a type of red or yellow Jasper, (which may be the difference between heat treated or not) and a few from smaller chunks of local flint and chert, but tools make from rock instead of petrified wood are mostly from imported rock.
This was one of the purposes for the Poverty Point area in north Louisiana, where I lived a few years ago. Poverty Point itself was about 10 miles from where Ilived. It was the location of a yearly trading meet, evidence of tribal groups from locations as far away as Indiana and Missouri have been found.
They would meet there once a year and bring items from their area to trade. The locals at poverty point made clay heating balls they would trade for other items, others would bring whatever they had from home. Rocks, already formed into blanks, baskets, sandals, whatevere they made from home.
One mound about 3 miles from where I lived was made from dirt brought there from missouri, one basket full at a time, and dumped onto their ceremonial mound near Poverty Point. It’s about 20 feet high now, probably 30 feet across.
Once you locate their campsites, artifacts from all over the country can be found. Numerous campsites are all over the area.
But the locals here where I live now mostly used petrified wood, the most common material. I’ve seen arrow and spear heads, scrapers, knives, drills etc, all made from petrified wood. Even a mortar and pestle...(I can’t remember the Native American names for them) Interesting that this culture used elephant bone for the same reason, it was more easily available.
This is interesting but should not be revolutionary. Present day primates make and use tools if given the need and the chance. Why not our distant ancestors?
Maybe it was just one smart guy making all the tools?
Mr. Craft? ;)
Probably a denisovan.
No matter how long you shake the box you will never get a 747. And no matter how much time passes you will never accidentally get a living cell.
These things take intention and planning to create.
“Craftsman”
In the beginning there was nothing?
In the beginning there was not only nothing, but nothing for nothing to exist in. There was nowhere for nothing to be. There was not even an ‘is’ because there was no ‘is not’.
Cosmologists tell us that the entire Universe with its billions and billions of galaxies of billions and billions of stars was all contained in a primordial thing called the ‘Singularity’, which was smaller than the period at the end of this sentence -—>.<-—
But they never tell us where the ‘Singularity’ came from.
Some say it is a ‘cyclical’ thing, in that the Universe will one day start the long and arduous march of the Great Falling Into the Singularity AGAIN, which it has done for a long, long, looooooong Time, perhaps many times, or at least a couple of times. We may be on our second trip or our billionth trip.
Some say the Universe will END at some point when all the stars are extinguished and they fly off into the cold, dark void where the temperature will be ABSOLUTE ZERO, and all matter just falls apart into its constituent pieces like quarks and muons and stuff that nobody has names for yet.
They argue amongst themselves these two scenarios BUT NEVER ANSWER THE QUESTION:
WHERE DID IT ALL COME FROM?
If you point to the chair they are sitting in and say, “That chair just came into being and all it’s parts, wood, steel, fabric, nuts, bolts, screws, staples and wheels just came together in the form that it is now.” They would call you crazy and a lunatic.
But if you say the entire Universe did the same, they will call you a ‘Wise and Learned man’, and give you the skin of a dead sheep with your name and some fancy writing, and sometimes pictures, on it.
BTW, my name is ‘Mike’..................................
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