forestguy
Oct 21 2009, 03:58 PM
Hi all - link to a
new article I stumbled across.
It's an interesting read - activity of early Homo in open settings. Here's a write up in
New Scientist QUOTE
Plummer's team also found that the ancient humans who lived in Kanjera 2 million years ago carried stone raw materials over surprisingly long distances. "These early humans carried high-quality, hard stone from over 13 kilometres away to the site," says Plummer.
Cheers,
FG
dogu4
Oct 22 2009, 11:22 AM
Interesting information. I note that the age is approx 2mya, which fits nicely with the general chronology of the onset of the ice ages and the time-frame in which it's presumed that H. erectus (and others) began dispersing into eurasia following the herds of grazers, including mammoths) that occupied the vast semi-arid grasslands which were prominent then.
Flashman
Oct 22 2009, 01:43 PM
I wouldn't call it so surprising that the source of the tool stone was some distance away. If I'm reading the topology of the map in the paper right it looks like they were found on a rise overlooking a plain. This is very much what in my experience one could expect from later neolithic finds, the toolmaking and use activity is done from a vantage point where they could see approaching game, predators, or competitors, Also flint, chert, obsidian etc pieces are known to have been among the first trade goods.
Another reason that tool stone might be brought a distance is the existance of a good "anvil" stone at that particular place, although one of these did not seem to be noted in the paper, but could have been missed (That big inconvenient boulder right in the middle of all this interesting stuff... ) . It would appear to me that the use of anvils could have predated the use of other tools, and thus anvils became traditional focus points for activity, as well as remaining useful for toolmaking, bone marrow scavenging etc.