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STONE AGE INNOVATIONS HAPPENED INDEPENDENTLY RATHER THAN SPREADING FROM AFRICA
Daily Digest
Sept 26 2014
By Ian Lang, Daily Digest News
Regarding Levallois technology circa 325k years ago (using flakes
from stones to create handy tools), it's commonly believed that the
technology originated in Africa and spread as humans migrated. Not so,
say researchers from Royal Holloway and the University of London: Based
on new evidence found in Armenia, it appears that localized groups
were developing similar technologies concurrently. The findings help
reshape the way we think about early human technology and migration.
"The discovery of thousands of stone artifacts preserved at this unique
site provides a major new insight into how Stone Age tools developed
during a period of profound human behavioural and biological change",
said Dr Simon Blockley from the Department of Geography at Royal
Holloway. "The people who lived there 325,000 years ago were much
more innovative than previously thought, using a combination of two
different technologies to make tools that were extremely important
for the mobile hunter-gatherers of the time."
By analyzing the volcanic material preserving the Armenian site,
researchers were able to date the tools found to between 325k and 335k
years ago - about the time the Levallois technology was believed to
have originated in Africa. Instead, the people of the area appear
to have developed it themselves out of biface, a more primitive
technology. This would indicate that localized groups of early humans
were generally more innovative than they were previously given credit.
"Our findings challenge the theory held by many archaeologists that
Levallois technology was invented in Africa and spread to Eurasia as
the human population expanded. Due to our ability to accurately date
the site in Armenia, we now have the first clear evidence that this
significant development in human innovation occurred independently
within different populations."
Levallois differs significantly from biface. With biface, stones were
chipped and flaked from two sides to create large tools such as axes
and spear heads. With Levallois, the flakes are not discarded as waste,
but created purposefully to be used as smaller, easier to carry tools
like hand knives.
http://dailydigestnews.com/2014/09/stone-age-innovations-happened-independently-rather-than-spreading-from-africa/
Daily Digest
Sept 26 2014
By Ian Lang, Daily Digest News
Regarding Levallois technology circa 325k years ago (using flakes
from stones to create handy tools), it's commonly believed that the
technology originated in Africa and spread as humans migrated. Not so,
say researchers from Royal Holloway and the University of London: Based
on new evidence found in Armenia, it appears that localized groups
were developing similar technologies concurrently. The findings help
reshape the way we think about early human technology and migration.
"The discovery of thousands of stone artifacts preserved at this unique
site provides a major new insight into how Stone Age tools developed
during a period of profound human behavioural and biological change",
said Dr Simon Blockley from the Department of Geography at Royal
Holloway. "The people who lived there 325,000 years ago were much
more innovative than previously thought, using a combination of two
different technologies to make tools that were extremely important
for the mobile hunter-gatherers of the time."
By analyzing the volcanic material preserving the Armenian site,
researchers were able to date the tools found to between 325k and 335k
years ago - about the time the Levallois technology was believed to
have originated in Africa. Instead, the people of the area appear
to have developed it themselves out of biface, a more primitive
technology. This would indicate that localized groups of early humans
were generally more innovative than they were previously given credit.
"Our findings challenge the theory held by many archaeologists that
Levallois technology was invented in Africa and spread to Eurasia as
the human population expanded. Due to our ability to accurately date
the site in Armenia, we now have the first clear evidence that this
significant development in human innovation occurred independently
within different populations."
Levallois differs significantly from biface. With biface, stones were
chipped and flaked from two sides to create large tools such as axes
and spear heads. With Levallois, the flakes are not discarded as waste,
but created purposefully to be used as smaller, easier to carry tools
like hand knives.
http://dailydigestnews.com/2014/09/stone-age-innovations-happened-independently-rather-than-spreading-from-africa/