20,000 years artificially drilled specimen found in Henan

People's Daily Online ^ | Monday, November 22, 2010 | unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

On Nov. 21, the archeological team from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage discovered two ostrich eggshells with stone-drilled holes that date back 20,000 years ago at the Xuchang primitive ruins.Experts from the team said that the two ostrich eggshells were the earliest artificially stone-drilled specimens that were ever found in Henan Province and the best-preserved specimens found in China over the age of 10,000 years, which showed that the primitive craftsmanship had developed to a quite high level even at that time. (Photo by Yufen/Chinanews.com)

[SunkenCiv]

The link behind the photo leads to a PDF file version.

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Antiquity Journal  & archive  Archaeologica  Archaeology  Archaeology Channel  BAR  Bronze Age Forum  Discover  Dogpile  Eurekalert  Google  LiveScience  Mirabilis.ca  Nat Geographic  PhysOrg  Science Daily  Science News  Texas AM  Yahoo  Excerpt, or Link only?	To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
· History topic · history keyword · archaeology keyword · paleontology keyword · · Science topic · science keyword · Books/Literature topic · pages keyword ·

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

So, apparently, ostrich eggs made it to China?

[bert]

links don’t seem to work

[bert]

The bird that lays the big ol’ eggs made it to China.

I have concluded that after you shake them up, they drain through the hole and don’t make a mess all over the skillet

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Door hinges made out of egg shells. Man, that’s effete.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Wow.

Totally off topic -- I live in rural Alabama. I was taking a side road past a little country grocery store, and there on the side of the road was an .. emu. I turned around and went up to the counter in the store and told the clerk, to see if she knew who the owner was (everyone knows everybody around here) who said the bird had been wandering around out there for a long time.

[Pecos]

Or, maybe the holes were for leather thongs that were used as hinges so the owner could wear the shells on his hip as an early fanny pack.

[randog]

Ostrich eggs? They look like corn chips, probably brought over by illegal immigrants.

[bvw]

The shells may be that old, but how would they know how old the holes are? Sorry, this one doesn’t seem right.

[JoeProBono]

Ostrich eggs are an extremely important source of food to the G/wi people of Botswana. The G/wi also decorate the eggshells to use as containers.

[SunkenCiv]

I didn’t try the PDF link, but the main topic link works fine:

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90783/91300/7207127.html

[bigheadfred]

So, apparently, ostrich eggs made it to China?

I had to look too. Haven't thought that ostriches weren't confined to Africa. Interesting.

[B.O. Plenty]

This, I predict, will not be the "oldest".

There have been innovators and artisans since time began and they left their work behind.

The deeper we dig, the more astonished we are going to be.

[null and void]

The deeper we dig, the more astonished we are going to be.

How much of our culture would survive an Ice Age?

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Or pieces of the world’s oldest Jacob’s ladder!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAYh5Qy7DRU
(Jacob’s ladder toy)

[r9etb]

I have concluded that after you shake them up, they drain through the hole and don’t make a mess all over the skillet

I've never shaken an ostrich over a skillet. It seems like it would be dangerous.

But if I ever do need to drain an ostrich, now I know what to do....

[ElkGroveDan]

I live in rural Alabama. I was taking a side road past a little country grocery store, and there on the side of the road was an .. emu.

You found my emu! I kept hoping he'd come home by now, but my wife has been saying, "After this much time he's probably halfway to Alabama." I have to go tell her she was right. Do me a favor and bring him home until I can get there. He likes cornflakes for breakfast and he'll curl up on the front porch at night if you give him an old blanket.

[Dr. Sivana]

How much of our culture would survive an Ice Age?

I wondered about that myself. Could you imagine some future archeologist, based on the remaining scraps that survived, coming to the conclusion that writing had pretty much disappeared after the early 21st century, and that after a brief period of collecting shiny plastic discs, the practice just died.

[sportutegrl]

The only reason to drill a hole in an eggshell is to preserve the shell intact. My mother would do this to get Easter eggs to use in decorating.