Hunter-gatherer toolkit, Milovice IV, Czech RepublicDr. Martin Novák
Posted on 09/25/2025 10:56:14 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Thousands of years ago, an Ice Age hunter set down a small pouch containing essential survival tools beside a campfire in what is now the Czech Republic, but never came back to retrieve it. ZME Science reports that archaeologists recently recovered the objects at a site known as Milovice IV in southern Moravia. Although the leather or hide pouch had long since decayed, the team found 29 small blades and points. Some had been used as projectiles on the tips of arrows or spears, while others seemed to have been used to cut or scrape animal skins. Most of them showed wear patterns and signs that they had been heavily used in their lifetime. Carbon dating from charcoal layers associated with the artifacts revealed they were between 29,550 and 30,250 years old, placing them within the time when the Gravettian culture flourished across Ice Age Europe. Perhaps most surprisingly, the raw materials used to produce the objects came from a variety of sources and locations -- flint cobbles, radiolarites, and even opal were obtained in areas as far as 80 miles away from the site. Researchers believe that the items comprise the personal toolkit of one expert hunter-gatherer, although they are a bit perplexed why the individual would have held on to so many partially broken pieces. "It is possible the hunter kept them in the hope of recycling them or even for their sentimental value," said Dominik Chlachula of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology. To read more about the Gravettian period, go to "The Birth of Venus," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2022.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
Hunter-gatherer toolkit, Milovice IV, Czech RepublicDr. Martin Novák
Remnants of a Swiss Army Knife?
Flip it over to see the “Bass Pro” logo on the bottom.
This hunter may be part of a long line of pack rats, from which I am descended. You never know when you can use that old piece of junk.
Probably got up to pee, and a nocturnal predator ate him. 🤔
Fascinating.
Wonder if he has an 11/16” socket.
Craftsman will replace it for free!................
“ 11/16” socket “
Definitely doesn’t have a 10mm
Yep, nor an 8mm....................
Euros proudly brag about packing “11 centimeters!”
Did he find my 10mm socket?
My first thought- hoarder.
Always have a knife.
Always have a light source.
I'm comfortable with that.
No one finds the 10mm. Even though it was placed right there, the spot will absolutely not have it. Sure, you can look around that spot, in case it rolled nearby - but it will NOT be there. It won’t make sense, and you will assure yourself that it didn’t just get up and walk away…. BUT DID IT?
Somewhere, in field of unicorns farting skittles there is a mountain of 10mm sockets by a river of tears of guys having to and but yet another replacement 10mm.
It’s further proof we should never go all metric.
There are two kinds of people.
Those who use the Metric system, and
Those who have been to the Moon.
Years ago I was backpacking and set up my tent in the dark and then walked over to the stream I could hear nearby. Lots of brush and wet spots to snake through for quite awhile until I got to the stream.
Returning to camp my little penlight got dimmer and dimmer until it went out. Go to the dark shape of a pine tree where my tent was - no tent. So I wandered over to the next dark shape of a tree. I don’t recall how many times I did that, but was starting to get a bit panicked. It would be a chilly mountain night with only my pants and shirt. I’m not even sure I had a lighter or knife on me. (I do now, all the time).
I can still see and feel the emotion when I walked around a tree and saw the outline of my tent in the dark.
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