Elephant bone toolNHM Photo Unit
Posted on 01/29/2026 8:35:34 AM PST by SunkenCiv
According to a statement released by University College London, a team of researchers led by Simon Parfitt of University College London and London's Natural History Museum reviewed materials unearthed at the Boxgrove Paleolithic site in southern England in 1990. Among the artifacts, the scientists identified a 500,000-year-old tool made of elephant or mammoth bone. The outer layer of elephant bone would have been softer than stone, and yet harder than the bones of other animals. "Elephant bone would have been a rare but highly useful resource, and it's likely this tool was of considerable value," Parfitt said. The age of the hammer suggests that it was made and used by either Neanderthals or members of Homo heidelbergensis. Examination with 3D scanning methods and electron microscopes revealed notches and impact marks in the bone. Fragments of flint were detected in some of these notches. The researchers conclude that the elephant bone tool had been used as a "retoucher" to sharpen stone tools and restore their shape after use. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Science Advances. To read about 1.5-million-year-old elephant bone implements unearthed in Tanzania, go to "The Bone Toolkit."
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
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Elephant bone toolNHM Photo Unit
It would be interesting if it were heidelbergensis, which was more closely related to us (perhaps ancestral) than to Neanderthals.
The consensus seems to be that Neanderthals used the same rather crude stone and bone tools for most of their 500 thousand year history (except for what they cribbed from true humans during their last few thousand years in Europe), while proto-human and human tools became more and more advanced over time. Our ancestors were more innovative thinkers.
Nope I am guessing they got this one wrong. Either it was no tool. Or the date is wrong. They need to have a lot more evidence that collaborates tool making in England 500,000 years ago. Homo Sapiens did not make it there. We need to find a few more in another place within Europe before I am believing it.
Nobody is claiming that H. sapiens was in England (or in Europe) half a million years ago. The article says that it's either the work of Neanderthals or of H. heidelbergensis (which used to be, along with H. rudolfensis, called "archaic Homo sapiens", but not the same thing).
Looks in pretty bad shape. If it's a Craftsman, they can get it replaced at no cost.
Easy to identity! Its a plow plane.
When I was a preteen I observed stones like that on river beds in Central USA.
I was thinking more along the lines of an oscilloscope. Now, since it is a half-million years old, it probably is the old type with vacuum tubes.
Not understanding how, if it is softer than stone, how it was used to sharpen stone.
Oh, I see that now! I overlooked the screen.
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Were you knapping in class?
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