[SunkenCiv]

full author list:Margherita Mussi, Eduardo Mendez-Quintas, Doris Barboni, Hervé Bocherens, Raymonde Bonnefille, Giuseppe Briatico, Denis Geraads, Rita T. Melis, Joaquin Panera, Laura Pioli, Andrea Serodio Domínguez & Susana Rubio Jara

[BobL]

“A surge in obsidian exploitation more than 1.2 million years ago”

People act like US slavery was the ONLY exploitation of people in human history, yet now it’s show that even the Obsidians were being exploited over a MILLION years ago.

Incredible how IGNORANT people are.

[George J. Jetso]

Exploitation of obsidian started gooball warming.

[ComputerGuy]

I have a good-sized chunk of Mexican obsidian. I can strike blades as sharp as any razor off that thing.

[Paal Gulli]

There are to this day surgical tools for extremely delicate work that use obsidian blades because at the microscopic level, sharpened steel has a jagged, saw-toothed (albeit very fine) edge. Obsidian can be knapped to an edge that is both razor-sharp and smoother than a gravy sandwich, which minimizes the tearing that always accompanies a steel blade. Talk about being ahead of your time!

There's also evidence from the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa dated to slightly earlier than this story (1MYA) showing that Homo erectus might already have learned to control fire. The previous landmark was in the Qesem Cave in Israel, and that was a good 600K years earlier.

[Political Junkie Too]

Obsidian Rocks Matter!

-PJ

[Red Badger]