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STONE AGE TOOLS DID NOT ORIGINATE FROM AFRICA, TOOLMAKING SKILLS DEVELOPED INDEPENDENTLY WORLDWIDE
TechTimes
Sept 26 2014
By Rhodi Lee
A method of Stone Age tool production is believed to have its
origins in Africa but findings of a new study challenges this
notion with evidence that suggests different populations around the
world independently developed their tool-making skills during the
Paleolithic Era.
Scientists have argued that a tool-making technology known as the
Levallois technique was invented in Africa and that the method
eventually spread to Eurasia following the migration of humans
from Africa. An analysis of stone artifacts in Armenia, however,
suggests otherwise.
In a new discovery described in the journal Science on Sept. 25, a
group of researchers examined almost 3,000 stone artifacts that were
excavated from Nor Geghi 1 (NG1), an archeological site in Armenia
that was preserved by two lava flows. By analyzing and dating the
volcanic ash between these lava flows, the researchers found that the
artifacts at the site existed between 200,000 and 400,000 years ago,
the era associated with the earliest Levallois tools in Africa.
The researchers also found that the people who lived in the area
thousands of years ago used both Levallois and a more rugged
tool-making method called bifacial technology at the same time
providing the earliest evidence that these technologies existed
together and suggesting that the people there may have gradually
developed Levallois technique from bifacial technology.
"We wouldn't have found this mixture if the Levallois technology had
simply replaced the old method," said study researcher Daniel Adler,
from the University of Connecticut in Storrs. "The communities probably
worked out for themselves how to make bifacial tools and then it was
a short step to the Levallois method."
Study researcher Simon Blockley, from the Department of Geography at
the Royal Holloway, University of London, said that the artifacts has
helped shed light on the evolution of Stone Age tools at a time when
humans underwent profound biological and behavioral changes.
He said that the people who live at the site thousands of years ago
appear to be more innovative than they were given credit for as they
have utilized a duo of different tool-making technologies to come
up with tools that are crucial for mobile hunter-gatherers during
the period.
"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," Blockley said. "We now have the first
clear evidence that this significant development in human innovation
occurred independently within different populations."
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/16534/20140926/stone-age-tools-did-not-originate-from-africa-toolmaking-skills-developed-independently-worldwide.htm
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
TechTimes
Sept 26 2014
By Rhodi Lee
A method of Stone Age tool production is believed to have its
origins in Africa but findings of a new study challenges this
notion with evidence that suggests different populations around the
world independently developed their tool-making skills during the
Paleolithic Era.
Scientists have argued that a tool-making technology known as the
Levallois technique was invented in Africa and that the method
eventually spread to Eurasia following the migration of humans
from Africa. An analysis of stone artifacts in Armenia, however,
suggests otherwise.
In a new discovery described in the journal Science on Sept. 25, a
group of researchers examined almost 3,000 stone artifacts that were
excavated from Nor Geghi 1 (NG1), an archeological site in Armenia
that was preserved by two lava flows. By analyzing and dating the
volcanic ash between these lava flows, the researchers found that the
artifacts at the site existed between 200,000 and 400,000 years ago,
the era associated with the earliest Levallois tools in Africa.
The researchers also found that the people who lived in the area
thousands of years ago used both Levallois and a more rugged
tool-making method called bifacial technology at the same time
providing the earliest evidence that these technologies existed
together and suggesting that the people there may have gradually
developed Levallois technique from bifacial technology.
"We wouldn't have found this mixture if the Levallois technology had
simply replaced the old method," said study researcher Daniel Adler,
from the University of Connecticut in Storrs. "The communities probably
worked out for themselves how to make bifacial tools and then it was
a short step to the Levallois method."
Study researcher Simon Blockley, from the Department of Geography at
the Royal Holloway, University of London, said that the artifacts has
helped shed light on the evolution of Stone Age tools at a time when
humans underwent profound biological and behavioral changes.
He said that the people who live at the site thousands of years ago
appear to be more innovative than they were given credit for as they
have utilized a duo of different tool-making technologies to come
up with tools that are crucial for mobile hunter-gatherers during
the period.
"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," Blockley said. "We now have the first
clear evidence that this significant development in human innovation
occurred independently within different populations."
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/16534/20140926/stone-age-tools-did-not-originate-from-africa-toolmaking-skills-developed-independently-worldwide.htm
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress