The World’s Oldest Campfire

Some of our ancient relatives may have been using fire for at least a million years, and probably longer.

When scientists used microscope analysis to study plant ash and charred bone fragments from the famous Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa, they discovered that the remains were about a million years old. They also concluded that the materials were burned inside the cave rather than being carried there by wind or water. The debris was found alongside stone tools, suggesting that humans had built the fire.

Some scientists believe that early man’s use of fire may have influenced human evolution. At the very least, fires helped humans stay warm, kept predators at bay, and might have facilitated the development of communication when early people gathered around the campfires. Fire also allowed people to cook their food, which made it more digestible.

Previous to the Wonderwerk find, the earliest evidence for human use of fire only dated back to about 700,000 years ago, so this new discovery has caused a bit of a sensation.

For more information about this discovery and possible implications, go here

Gobekli Tepe - The World’s Oldest Temple?

Believed to be more than 11,000 years old, Gobekli Tepe in southern Turkey is currently believed to be the world’s oldest temple. It is also a monument to the extraordinary artistic and engineering skills of its builders.

The Gobekli Tepe site is located near the Turkish city of Urfa. Only a tiny portion of the site has been excavated. So far excavators have found at least 20 stone rings, with one circle built inside another. These rings range from 30 to 100 feet (10 to 30) meters in diameter and are built with carefully carved limestone blocks.

The carving of the T-shaped blocks outlining the circles is strikingly precise, as are the sculptures of people and animals carved on the edges of both the blocks and the two 18-foot (5.5 m) tall pillars located in the center of the rings. So far, at least, no signs of living quarters have been found at Gobekli Tepe, and there are no hearths within the rings. It seems odd that even though there are signs that this structure was a major pilgrimage center, no one seems to have lived near it. Adding to the mystery, buildings dated at 14,000 to 15,000 years old were found at the base of the hill on which Gobekli Tepe is located.

Analysis of obsidian tools found at the site shows that the obsidian came from areas as far as 300 miles (500 km) away from the site. Experts are divided as to whether people actually came from that far away to visit the temple complex, or whether the obsidian was traded from far-away locations.
Gobekli Tepi is well designed and superbly executed. Its design and construction are remarkably advanced considering that it was supposedly constructed by hunter-gatherers. I do not believe that this technology emerged full-blown at Gobekli Tepi. I hope that archaeologists are searching for even earlier temple complexes that might reveal how the technology developed that eventually resulted in Gobekli Tepi. This beautiful and complex temple area is currently believed to be the oldest of its kind, but it seems fairly obvious that there may well be earlier examples still to be found.

There is a great site with information and photographs if you would like to explore further. Just visit here

The World’s Oldest Preserved Forests (Yes, there are two of them)

The record for the world’s oldest preserved forest turns out to be a tie. Both forests are about 300 million years old, and were found half a world apart.

The first, reported in 2007, was discovered in a coal mine located in Illinois. This one is also the largest ever found and is believed to cover an area of about 6 square miles (10 km). It was found more than 100 feet below the surface during mining operations. The remains are a treasure-trove of examples of extinct species, with club mosses which grew to over 40 feet high along with tree ferns, shrubs, and giant horsetails.

The huge size and diversity of the forest is allowing researchers to gain significant insights into the complex make-up of these ancient forests. For more information on the Illinois forest, click here

The second forest, located near Wuda in northern China, was found beneath a coal mine. It is much smaller in size than the Illinois find, but exhibits a wide diversity of plant life. Researchers studied three different sites totaling about 1,000 square meters and found that each site was a bit different than the others in terms of plant composition.

The Wuda forest was buried by a layer of volcanic ash, which preserved not only trunks and branches, but leaves and even pinecones. The Illinois forest apparently fell victim to an earthquake which which caused the area to drop below sea level. The forest was then buried in mud, which preserved the plants.

The fact that the two forests were found in or near coal mines is not too surprising. Both forests flourished during the Carboniferous period, which is when most of the world’s coal deposits were formed.

For more information on the Wuda forest, click here

The World’s Oldest Popcorn

Scientists currently believe that corn was originally domesticated around 9,.000 years ago in Mexico and reached South America a few thousand years later. Now they believe they’ve found the world’s oldest popcorn in Peru.

Evidence for the presence of popcorn was found at two sites, Paredones and Huaca Prieta, both located on Peru’s northern coast. Researchers analyzed stalks, cobs, corn husks and tassels and determined that the remains dated from 6,700 to about 3,000 years ago. Though the experts believe that the primitive corn was actually popped, they also believe that it was ground into flour.

The tiny corn cobs measure less than 4 inches, and on first glance bear little resemblance to modern corn. It is interesting that no wild varieties of corn have ever been found either in Mexico or in South America. It is currently thought that corn was deliberately developed from a wild grass called teosinte.

It is also interesting that corn arrived in South America long before the development of pottery and ceramics.

If you are interested in seeing a picture and learning more about this remarkable discovery, click here

The World’s Oldest Elephant Tracks Aren’t in Africa

These tracks are about 7 million years old, and were found at a site located in the Arabian Desert within the United Arab Emirates. They are believed to have been made by about 13 four-tusked, primitive ancestors of modern elephants.
The tracks cover an area of more than 12 acres (5 hectares). Originally thought by locals to be dinosaur prints, they were finally identified in January 2011 when the area was mapped by air.
For more on this story, visit

The World’s Oldest Working Light Bulb

The lucky owners of world’s oldest working light bulb celebrated its 100th birthday in June 2001. Nearly 12 years later, it’s still burning, though not as brightly as it once did.

On June 18, 1901, Dennis Bernal, owner of the Livermore Power and Light Company of Livermore, California, donated the 60-watt light bulb to the local fire department. It was first installed at a hose cart house, but was soon moved to the main firehouse. In 1903, it was again moved, this time to the new Station 1. It was turned off for about a week when the firehouse was renovated in 1937, when it was turned back on without incident.

In 1976, it was moved to Fire Station 6, escorted by police and fire trucks. This time it got its own power supply, though it was still running at 110 watts. It is now serving as a night light, and its power has now been cut to only four watts.

This particular bulb was developed by Adolphe A. Chaillet and manufactured by the Shelby Electric Company. The bulb itself was handblown and equipped with a carbon filament. No one seems to know why it has lasted so long.

The Centennial Bulb is recognized as the oldest known working light bulb by both the Guinness Book of World Records and by Ripley’s Believe-It-or–Not.
　
The Livermore bulb, also called the Centennial Bulb and the Shelby Bulb, even has its own website.
　　

The World’s Oldest Astrologer’s Board

Astrology is thought to have first developed in Babylon some time before 2500 B.C. It spread to the eastern Mediterranean area around 2100 years ago. So you would expect to find the oldest astrology board in Babylon.

But in 1999, thirty bits of ivory found in a cave near Nakovana in Croatia and painstakingly assembled over the next several years, proved to be the remains of what is now the oldest known astrologer’s board. The part of the cave containing the ivory fragments had been deliberately sealed off more than 2,000 years ago and lay undisturbed until discovered by a team led by Staso Forenbaher of the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb.

Over time, the Greek symbols used for the signs of the zodiac replaced earlier versions developed by the Babylonians and other cultures and are still in use by today’s astrologers.

Researchers are uncertain where the board was made, although the ivory was identified as coming from an elephant. They believe the symbols may have been attached to a wooden board that did not survive. They also have no idea why it was placed in a cave, which is not a particularly good place for observing stars and constellations.

The cave also contained a large number of drinking vessels which appear to have been deposited over hundreds of years. If these drinking vessels were used in rituals, then the cave had a long history of special significance for the people who lived in the area long before the board was left there. Was it hidden there, or was it an offering to some unknown deity?
If you’re interested in more information, you might want to start here