[GourmetDan]

You think tree rings go back millions of years? They don't go back more than a few thousand and that is assuming that they are matched correctly. Assumptions, assumptions.

'Abilities' = the purported tools that supposedly indicate tool-making supposedly indicating intelligence supposedly indicating the 'abilities' of this creature.

Assumption built upon interpretation built upon extrapolation.

[blam]

"You think tree rings go back millions of years? They don't go back more than a few thousand and that is assuming that they are matched correctly. Assumptions, assumptions."

The tree-ring 'gauge' is now over 10,000 years long.