Uncovering Ice Age Archaeology In Jordan

AMMAN: The early prehistory and archaeology of the Middle Pleistocene, or Ice Age, is being revealed in remarkable detail in studies in southern Jordan. The work, begun in the late 1990s, has documented the presence of Homo erectus, our ancient ancestor, at a series of archaeological sites at Ayoun Qedim in the al-Jafr Basin.

Today al-Jafr Basin is one of the most arid places in the Middle East. During the Pleistocene, the basin was filled with an enormous freshwater lake fed by springs and run off. Its shores were frequented by large animals ancestral to those that occupy the East African savannah today. Al-Jafr Basin was one node on a chain of ancient lake basins that stretched from northwestern Saudi Arabia to northeastern Syria during the wetter times of the Ice Age. These lake basins formed an inland corridor for occupation by Homo erectus moving between Africa and Eurasia, say investigators Leslie A. Quintero and Philip J. Wilke from the University of California at Riverside, and Dr. Gary Rollefson from Whitman College, Washington.

The sites have yielded hundreds of heavy-duty butchering tools chipped from local deposits of flint. The tools are cleavers, a form of handaxe, that could be resharpened by striking distinctive flakes from the cutting end. Even these resharpening flakes were found, showing the tools were maintained as needed. The investigators say the tools were used to butcher animals like elephants and rhinos, which were hunted there when they came for water a quarter- to a half-million years ago. They note the similarity of the cleavers found at Ayoun Qedim with those from as far away as Boxgrove, England. Boxgrove was occupied at about the same time, upwards of 400,000 years ago. The cultural complex of that time is referred to by archaeologists as the Acheulian, and is distributed across much of the Old World.

The research at al-Jafr is conducted under permit from the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, and is funded by the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman and Whitman College. The investigators said their work was significantly aided by logistical support they received from the local Abu Tayeh Bedouin. - The Daily Star is grateful to Leslie A. Quintero, Philip J. Wilke and Dr. Gary Rollefson for contributing this report.

'Oldest sculpture' found in Morocco
by Paul Rincon
A 400,000-year-old stone object unearthed in Morocco could be the world's oldest attempt at sculpture... The object, which is around six centimetres in length, is shaped like a human figure, with grooves that suggest a neck, arms and legs. On its surface are flakes of a red substance that could be remnants of paint. The object was found 15 metres below the eroded surface of a terrace on the north bank of the River Draa near the town of Tan-Tan. It was reportedly lying just a few centimetres away from stone handaxes in ground layers dating to the Middle Acheulian period, which lasted from 500,000 to 300,000 years ago... A 200,000-300,000-year-old stone object found at Berekhat Ram in Israel in 1986 has also been the subject of claims that it is a figurine. However, several other researchers later presented evidence to show that it was probably shaped by geological processes.
Evidence of earliest human burial
by Paul Rincon
Wednesday, 26 March, 2003
Scientists claim they have found the oldest evidence of human creativity: a 350,000-year-old pink stone axe.... Spanish researchers found the axe among the fossilised bones of 27 ancient humans that were clumped together at the bottom of a 14-metre- (45 feet) deep pit inside a network of limestone caves at Atapuerca, near Burgos... "It's a great discovery. This is an interpretation, but in my opinion and the opinion of my team, the axe could be the first evidence of ritual behaviour and symbolism in a human species," Professor Carbonell said. "We conclude it could be from a funeral rite," he added... The human remains belong to the species Homo heidelbergensis, which dominated Europe around 600,000-200,000 years ago and is thought to have given rise to both the Neanderthals and modern humans (Homo sapiens)... "I'm cautious about its significance," said Professor Chris Stringer, also of the Natural History Museum... Previously, the earliest funeral rituals were thought to be associated with Neanderthal remains dated 100,000 years ago. But some researchers dispute the significance of these sites, preferring to believe that abstract thinking began around 50,000 years ago in modern humans.
'Lump of Rock' Turns Out to Be World's First Sculpture
The Independent
September 25, 2000
Scientists claim they have found the oldest evidence of human creativity: a 350,000-year-old pink stone axe.... Spanish researchers found the axe among the fossilised bones of 27 ancient humans that were clumped together at the bottom of a 14-metre- (45 feet) deep pit inside a network of limestone caves at Atapuerca, near Burgos... "It's a great discovery. This is an interpretation, but in my opinion and the opinion of my team, the axe could be the first evidence of ritual behaviour and symbolism in a human species," Professor Carbonell said. "We conclude it could be from a funeral rite," he added... The human remains belong to the species Homo heidelbergensis, which dominated Europe around 600,000-200,000 years ago and is thought to have given rise to both the Neanderthals and modern humans (Homo sapiens)... "I'm cautious about its significance," said Professor Chris Stringer, also of the Natural History Museum... Previously, the earliest funeral rituals were thought to be associated with Neanderthal remains dated 100,000 years ago. But some researchers dispute the significance of these sites, preferring to believe that abstract thinking began around 50,000 years ago in modern humans.
Oldest jewellery disputes "out of Africa" theory
by Damian Carrington, Boston
Archaeologist Lawrence Straus, from the University of New Mexico, agrees the evidence supports the continuity theory: "The ongoing process of human adaptation was a long, drawn out process, mosaic in nature. The idea of a total and abrupt replacement of an inferior species 40,000 years ago has in my opinion been fabricated."

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