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ARMENIAN STONE AGE ARTEFACTS SHOW HUMAN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION 325,000 YEARS AGO
09:44 26.09.2014
Stone Age artefacts discovered at a site in Armenia have shown how
innovative humans were in terms of technological development 325,000
years ago, according to the International Business Times.
Published in the journal Science, researchers studied thousands of
stone artefacts from the Nor Geghi 1 site in Armenia. The area is
unique as it has been preserved between two lava flows dating from
200,000 to 400,000 years.
The archaeological material was found in layers of floodplain sediments
and ancient soil between the lava flows.
Analysis of the artefacts, by researchers at the University of
Connecticut, showed that human technological innovation occurred
intermittently throughout the Old World, rather than spreading from
a single origin.
Their finding challenges long held theories of how human technology
developed - that it spread as human populations moved. Experts thought
more advanced technology was invented in Africa and spread to Eurasia
replacing older tools in the process.
Researchers found two types of technology at the site. Biface
technology, such as hand axes, is associated with the Lower Paleolithic
era, while the more advanced Levallois technology, a stone tool
production method, is thought to have come from the Middle Stone Age
in Africa and the Middle Paleolithic in Eurasia.
The tools found suggest simultaneous use of both biface and Levallois
technology - a surprising discovery: "The co-existence of the two
technologies at Nor Geghi 1 provides the first clear evidence that
local populations developed Levallois technology out of existing
biface technology," the authors said in a statement.
Daniel Adler, lead author of the study, said: "The combination of
these different technologies in one place suggests to us that, about
325,000 years ago, people at the site were innovative."
Researchers believe the shift from biface to Levallois technology was
gradual and intermittent, and that it occurred independently within
different human populations who had shared technological ancestry.
Adler said their findings suggest Stone Age people were flexible and
variable in terms of their technology - highlighting the "antiquity
of the human capacity for innovation".
http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/09/26/armenian-stone-age-artefacts-show-human-technological-innovation-325000-years-ago/
From: Baghdasarian
09:44 26.09.2014
Stone Age artefacts discovered at a site in Armenia have shown how
innovative humans were in terms of technological development 325,000
years ago, according to the International Business Times.
Published in the journal Science, researchers studied thousands of
stone artefacts from the Nor Geghi 1 site in Armenia. The area is
unique as it has been preserved between two lava flows dating from
200,000 to 400,000 years.
The archaeological material was found in layers of floodplain sediments
and ancient soil between the lava flows.
Analysis of the artefacts, by researchers at the University of
Connecticut, showed that human technological innovation occurred
intermittently throughout the Old World, rather than spreading from
a single origin.
Their finding challenges long held theories of how human technology
developed - that it spread as human populations moved. Experts thought
more advanced technology was invented in Africa and spread to Eurasia
replacing older tools in the process.
Researchers found two types of technology at the site. Biface
technology, such as hand axes, is associated with the Lower Paleolithic
era, while the more advanced Levallois technology, a stone tool
production method, is thought to have come from the Middle Stone Age
in Africa and the Middle Paleolithic in Eurasia.
The tools found suggest simultaneous use of both biface and Levallois
technology - a surprising discovery: "The co-existence of the two
technologies at Nor Geghi 1 provides the first clear evidence that
local populations developed Levallois technology out of existing
biface technology," the authors said in a statement.
Daniel Adler, lead author of the study, said: "The combination of
these different technologies in one place suggests to us that, about
325,000 years ago, people at the site were innovative."
Researchers believe the shift from biface to Levallois technology was
gradual and intermittent, and that it occurred independently within
different human populations who had shared technological ancestry.
Adler said their findings suggest Stone Age people were flexible and
variable in terms of their technology - highlighting the "antiquity
of the human capacity for innovation".
http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/09/26/armenian-stone-age-artefacts-show-human-technological-innovation-325000-years-ago/
From: Baghdasarian