If these spear points are actually as old as they seem to be, they represent an archaeological and anthropological game-changer. Could it be that some of our most ancient human ancestors mastered the complex processes that were required to create and mount stone tips to wooden spears a quarter of a million years earlier than has been generally thought?
The spear tips were found at a site called Kathu Pan 1 in the Kalahari Desert. The sediments that held the stones were not dated until 2010. But even though the artifacts resembled younger points that were used as spear tips, their actual use remained uncertain. Researchers stabbed a springbok carcass with replicas of the original points. Then they compared the damage caused to the replicas with damage found on the ancient tips. They determined that the damage found on both sets of points closely resembled one another.
While it may seem relatively simple to successfully attach a stone point to a spear, the reality is that it was a complex process. The hunter needed not only the tip and the wooden spear, but also some sort of string, which could have made of sinew, finely sliced animal hide, preferably rawhide, which would shrink as it hardened around the assembly. He also needed some sort of glue. In primitive societies, glue is commonly based on a tree resin, often mixed with other ingredients. Fire was required to melt the glue and the temperature had to be carefully controlled so that the mixture did not burn.
The actual age of the artifacts could not be established by direct evidence. Neither radiocarbon nor argon potassium dating methods could be used. Argon testing could not be done because there are no volcanic rocks in the area. Radiocarbon dating tests cannot be done on stone objects, not do they work on objects as old as the spear tips are believed to be. So the researchers used indirect methods to date the spear points, which, of course, leaves the door open to other theories.
As with every other remarkable archaeological discovery, new questions have been raised. If these artifacts are really half a million years old, why have no others been found dating between 500,000 and 250,000 years old? Was this valuable technology simply lost for a quarter of a million years, or have other examples simply not been found yet? Or is this another case where archaeologists were not looking for them simply because they did not expect to find them? Another question that arises concerns whether or not H. heidelbergensis used the same glue and string technique to half hand axes, knives, or other tools.
The discovery of the spear points also adds fuel to the argument about whether ancient people such as H. heidelbergensis and his successor, H. neanderthalis, possessed speech. Recently there has been some agreement that Neanderthals could speak. But the idea that H. heidelbergensis could speak is still generating controversy. The existence of the ancient spear points supports the idea that those ancient people could indeed speak. There is almost no other way that the spear-hafting technology could have been passed on or handed down.
An article written detailing the findings was published in the November 2012 issue of the journal Nature. The lead author was anthropologist Jayne Wilkins of the University of Toronto.
There’s a great article with additional detail and photographs here
Friday, January 18, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
The World’s Oldest Known Prosthetic
A toe made of wood and leather is thought to be the oldest known prosthetic. It was found on a female mummy buried at Luxor and has been dated to approximately 950 and 710 BC.
The loss of a big toe hampers walking. Researchers, with the help of two volunteers who had lost big toes, showed that the artificial toe was a practical device that would have helped its wearer walk more naturally in sandals, although there were some problems when the testers walked barefoot. This lends support to the idea that these devices were not created for mere cosmetic purposes.
There are other examples of ancient prosthetic devices, though none are currently thought to be older than the Egyptian toe. One is a big toe known as the Greville Chester toe which dates before 600 BC and is currently in the British Museum. This toe is made of cartonnage, a papier mache made with a mixture of animal glue, linen and plaster. A much later example is a Roman bronze and wooden leg, known as the Capua leg, dated to approximately 300 BC.
The Cairo toe is currently at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. For more information and to view photos of the Cairo toe, go here
The loss of a big toe hampers walking. Researchers, with the help of two volunteers who had lost big toes, showed that the artificial toe was a practical device that would have helped its wearer walk more naturally in sandals, although there were some problems when the testers walked barefoot. This lends support to the idea that these devices were not created for mere cosmetic purposes.
There are other examples of ancient prosthetic devices, though none are currently thought to be older than the Egyptian toe. One is a big toe known as the Greville Chester toe which dates before 600 BC and is currently in the British Museum. This toe is made of cartonnage, a papier mache made with a mixture of animal glue, linen and plaster. A much later example is a Roman bronze and wooden leg, known as the Capua leg, dated to approximately 300 BC.
The Cairo toe is currently at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. For more information and to view photos of the Cairo toe, go here
Monday, December 31, 2012
Is This the World’s Oldest Cheese-making Equipment?
Little Miss Muffet, eating her curds and whey, probably did not know that cheese was originally produced more than 7,500 years ago.
Researchers from Britain, the United States and Poland analyzed residue embedded in pottery found in the Polish region of Kuyavia. They found the pottery fragments, which were perforated much like sieves used today, contained fatty acids consistent with the production of curds and whey.
Turning milk into cheese has several advantages. Cheese is more easily stored than milk, which helped add to early man’s ability to store food. It is believed that most people of the time would have been lactose intolerant. Curds contain far less lactose than whole milk and are rich in fat, which is a valuable source of energy. The whey is rich in lactose, which can be thrown away or used for animal feed.
Cheese-making, of course, had to wait until milk-producing animals such as cows and goats were domesticated. Before then, milking an aurochs or wild goat would have proven hazardous at best.
Evidence of milk production and storage has been found at 8,000-year old sites in Turkey and Libya, but there was no evidence at any of these sites that any of the milk had been made into cheese.
It is not known at present what the source of the milk was. People living around the world today harvest milk from horses, cows, goats, and other local domesticated animals.
The more we learn about the food producing capabilities of our distant ancestors, the more our respect for the ingenuity and sophistication of these people grows. How much more of our "modern" inventions and practices really had its origins in the ancient world?
Researchers from Britain, the United States and Poland analyzed residue embedded in pottery found in the Polish region of Kuyavia. They found the pottery fragments, which were perforated much like sieves used today, contained fatty acids consistent with the production of curds and whey.
Turning milk into cheese has several advantages. Cheese is more easily stored than milk, which helped add to early man’s ability to store food. It is believed that most people of the time would have been lactose intolerant. Curds contain far less lactose than whole milk and are rich in fat, which is a valuable source of energy. The whey is rich in lactose, which can be thrown away or used for animal feed.
Cheese-making, of course, had to wait until milk-producing animals such as cows and goats were domesticated. Before then, milking an aurochs or wild goat would have proven hazardous at best.
Evidence of milk production and storage has been found at 8,000-year old sites in Turkey and Libya, but there was no evidence at any of these sites that any of the milk had been made into cheese.
It is not known at present what the source of the milk was. People living around the world today harvest milk from horses, cows, goats, and other local domesticated animals.
The more we learn about the food producing capabilities of our distant ancestors, the more our respect for the ingenuity and sophistication of these people grows. How much more of our "modern" inventions and practices really had its origins in the ancient world?
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The World’s Oldest Noodles
A sealed bowl unearthed at the Lajia archaeological site in China has revealed the well-preserved remains of thin, yellow noodles dated at around 4,000 years old. This discovery may finally settle the long-standing argument about whether noodles were invented in China or in Italy.
The bowl was found under ten feet (three meters) of sediment. The contents, long, thin, yellow noodles, were easily recognizable. Later analysis showed that they were made of two types of millet which had been ground into flour. Millet is indigenous to China and has been cultivated there for more than 7,000 years. While wheat-based noodles are the most common type found in the world today, millet noodles are still a staple food in poorer areas in China.
The combination of two varieties of millet, broomcorn and foxtail, is interesting in itself. Foxtail millet alone would not lend itself to being pulled and stretched into thin noodles because it is not sticky enough. When combined with broomcorn millet, though, the dough becomes sticky enough to be handled and pulled into shape. This suggests a sophisticated level of knowledge in creating and handling millet dough.
The earliest recorded evidence of noodles is a mention in a book written sometime between A.D. 25 and 220. This time frame is consistent with the appearance of noodles in other parts of the world, although those noodles were usually made of wheat rather than millet.
Historians and other experts have long argued about whether modern noodles were invented by the Chinese, the Italians, or by Arabs. Some stories credit Italian explorer Marco Polo with introducing noodles into Europe.
There’s more information on this story here
The bowl was found under ten feet (three meters) of sediment. The contents, long, thin, yellow noodles, were easily recognizable. Later analysis showed that they were made of two types of millet which had been ground into flour. Millet is indigenous to China and has been cultivated there for more than 7,000 years. While wheat-based noodles are the most common type found in the world today, millet noodles are still a staple food in poorer areas in China.
The combination of two varieties of millet, broomcorn and foxtail, is interesting in itself. Foxtail millet alone would not lend itself to being pulled and stretched into thin noodles because it is not sticky enough. When combined with broomcorn millet, though, the dough becomes sticky enough to be handled and pulled into shape. This suggests a sophisticated level of knowledge in creating and handling millet dough.
The earliest recorded evidence of noodles is a mention in a book written sometime between A.D. 25 and 220. This time frame is consistent with the appearance of noodles in other parts of the world, although those noodles were usually made of wheat rather than millet.
Historians and other experts have long argued about whether modern noodles were invented by the Chinese, the Italians, or by Arabs. Some stories credit Italian explorer Marco Polo with introducing noodles into Europe.
There’s more information on this story here
Monday, December 17, 2012
The Oldest Known Dinosaur
A fossil that’s been lying around in a British museum for years has now pushed back the earliest known existence of dinosaurs by an estimated ten to fifteen million years.
The fossil was originally discovered in the 1930s by Rex Parrington of Cambridge University near Lake Nyasa, now known as Lake Malawi, in Tanzania. It is now being called Nyasasaurus parringtoni in honor of the discovery. It has been kept at London’s Natural History Museum for decades. A study conducted in the 1950s was inconclusive, but advancements in paleongology in the intervening years has allowed researchers to better understand fossils such as this one.
Although the fossil is fragmentary, investigators were able to identify several features that they say are common to dinosaurs. The bones show marks of rapid growth, which is common to dinosaurs, and the upper arm muscles were anchored to the bones by an elongated deltopectoral crest, which is unique in dinosaurs. Its hips also display features only known in dinosaurs.
Researchers believe Nyasaurus probably stood upright and measured 7 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) from head to tail. It likely weighed about 45 to 120 pounds (20 to 60 kg). Evidence so far indicates that it sported a long neck and tail.
A similar fossil has since been discovered at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town, South Africa. Researchers are planning field work in Tanzania in the hope of finding more fossils. They hope to find more evidence to better understand this animal’s anatomy.
Although dinosaurs are associated with the Jurassic Period, it has long been argued by some theorists that they or their predecessors had to have been living at least as far back as the Middle Triassic period, which ended about 237 million years ago. Nyasaurus has now provided the best evidence for the validity of the theory.
The world of Nyasaurus was very different from that of the later dinosaurs. The world’s continents were still joined together in a great landmass called Pangaea. At that time, what is now Tanzania would have been located in the southern part of the supercontinent. South America, Africa, Antarctica and Australia were all located in the general area at that time.
Nyasaurus was dated based on the age of the rock layer in which it was found, along with the ages of the layers both above and below the location of the find. They also compared the ages of these rock layers with others located around the world which contained similar animal remains.
Perhaps this discovery will encourage researchers to watch for other fossils in their Triassic-age excavations.
For more information, go here
The fossil was originally discovered in the 1930s by Rex Parrington of Cambridge University near Lake Nyasa, now known as Lake Malawi, in Tanzania. It is now being called Nyasasaurus parringtoni in honor of the discovery. It has been kept at London’s Natural History Museum for decades. A study conducted in the 1950s was inconclusive, but advancements in paleongology in the intervening years has allowed researchers to better understand fossils such as this one.
Although the fossil is fragmentary, investigators were able to identify several features that they say are common to dinosaurs. The bones show marks of rapid growth, which is common to dinosaurs, and the upper arm muscles were anchored to the bones by an elongated deltopectoral crest, which is unique in dinosaurs. Its hips also display features only known in dinosaurs.
Researchers believe Nyasaurus probably stood upright and measured 7 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) from head to tail. It likely weighed about 45 to 120 pounds (20 to 60 kg). Evidence so far indicates that it sported a long neck and tail.
A similar fossil has since been discovered at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town, South Africa. Researchers are planning field work in Tanzania in the hope of finding more fossils. They hope to find more evidence to better understand this animal’s anatomy.
Although dinosaurs are associated with the Jurassic Period, it has long been argued by some theorists that they or their predecessors had to have been living at least as far back as the Middle Triassic period, which ended about 237 million years ago. Nyasaurus has now provided the best evidence for the validity of the theory.
The world of Nyasaurus was very different from that of the later dinosaurs. The world’s continents were still joined together in a great landmass called Pangaea. At that time, what is now Tanzania would have been located in the southern part of the supercontinent. South America, Africa, Antarctica and Australia were all located in the general area at that time.
Nyasaurus was dated based on the age of the rock layer in which it was found, along with the ages of the layers both above and below the location of the find. They also compared the ages of these rock layers with others located around the world which contained similar animal remains.
Perhaps this discovery will encourage researchers to watch for other fossils in their Triassic-age excavations.
For more information, go here
Monday, December 10, 2012
The World’s Oldest Color Movies
The world’s oldest color movies were found by a curator at the National Museum in the UK. They were shot in 1899 by inventor Edward Raymond Turner in 1899.
The films were originally shot in black and white, then each frame was run through red, green, or blue gels. The process had to be reversed during projection to reveal the colors, but Turner had left a blueprint of the process, which allowed the museum’s team to reproduce the process using digital technology.
In the end, Turner’s process proved too complex and the end products would have been inferior to the chemical processes such as Kinemacolor (1909) and Technicolor, which eventually became standard in the film industry.
The collection includes footage of a goldfish in a bowl, Turner’s own children, a scarlet macaw, soldiers marching in Hyde Park. The very first shot is believed to be of traffic on London’s Knightsbridge.
The collection was donated to the Science Museum in 1937 by cinema pioneer Charles Urban, an American businessman who had moved to London. They were rediscovered when the collection was moved to Bradford about three years ago.
Michael Harvey, the museum’s creator of cinematography, assembled a team to try to reconstruct Turner’s methods. They were successful, proving that Turner’s technology did indeed work. They then dated the films by using the footage of Turner’s children, whose birthdates are known. Turner died in 1903 at the age of 29, so the museum’s researchers knew the films could not have been made after that date.
The footage has since been shown to the public at the Bradford Museum and a BBC documentary featuring the footage was broadcast in parts of Britain.
If you’d like to take a look at these extraordinary bits of film, go here
The films were originally shot in black and white, then each frame was run through red, green, or blue gels. The process had to be reversed during projection to reveal the colors, but Turner had left a blueprint of the process, which allowed the museum’s team to reproduce the process using digital technology.
In the end, Turner’s process proved too complex and the end products would have been inferior to the chemical processes such as Kinemacolor (1909) and Technicolor, which eventually became standard in the film industry.
The collection includes footage of a goldfish in a bowl, Turner’s own children, a scarlet macaw, soldiers marching in Hyde Park. The very first shot is believed to be of traffic on London’s Knightsbridge.
The collection was donated to the Science Museum in 1937 by cinema pioneer Charles Urban, an American businessman who had moved to London. They were rediscovered when the collection was moved to Bradford about three years ago.
Michael Harvey, the museum’s creator of cinematography, assembled a team to try to reconstruct Turner’s methods. They were successful, proving that Turner’s technology did indeed work. They then dated the films by using the footage of Turner’s children, whose birthdates are known. Turner died in 1903 at the age of 29, so the museum’s researchers knew the films could not have been made after that date.
The footage has since been shown to the public at the Bradford Museum and a BBC documentary featuring the footage was broadcast in parts of Britain.
If you’d like to take a look at these extraordinary bits of film, go here
Monday, December 3, 2012
The World’s Oldest Intact Spears
It was long thought that ancient people such as Homo heidelbergensis used only thrusting spears, if they used such weapons at all. They were not thought to have been intelligent enough, or technologically advanced enough, to have developed spears that could actually be thrown. The Schöningen spears, along with the similarly old Clacton spear tip, have caused researchers to rethink their positions.
Three intact spears were initially discovered in 1992 by archaeologist Hartmut Thieme of the Institute of Ancient Monuments in Hanover, Germany. He found them in an active lignite mine, in an area roughly 30 to 50 feet (8 to 15 meters) below the surface. Since then, five more have been discovered. Radiocarbon dating has now confirmed that these weapons range in age from about 380,000 to 400,000 years.
The spears, each more than 6 feet to about 7.5 feet long, were carefully shaped to form a center of gravity a third of the way from the tip. This proportion is still used in modern javelins to allow them to fly farther and more accurately. Each was made from spruce tree trunks, each about 30 years old when harvested, with the tip formed from the harder lower end of the trunk. The similarity of construction shows that they were not randomly carved, but rather that their makers were working to a standard pattern.
The spears were not found in an archaeological vacuum. Archaeologists have recovered thousands of pieces of bone, many of which bore cut marks made by flint tools. The flints themselves were discovered along with grooved wooden "handles" which may have held them to create knives and fleshing tools. If that is the case, the flints and wooden "handles" may be examples of the oldest composite tools known in the world.
Prior to the discovery of the Schöningen spears, it was thought that only modern humans could have developed the design and construction skills needed to create them. They also may shed light on the hunting methods of these ancient people. The bones found at the site include elephant, horse, and deer. These animals are not easily killed by lone hunters, so the implication is that the people who created and used the spears hunted in groups. This would have required the ability to plan and carry out organized hunting expeditions.
The discovery of the Schöningen spears caused a sensation when it was announced. It also helped in establishing the credibility of the 500,000 spear fragment found at Clacton, England in 1911 found in deposits of comparable age to those of Schöningen. It is astonishing that the Schöningen spears survived at all, but the issues raised by their existence still have some experts scratching their heads and rethinking their positions regarding the intelligence of these ancient and remarkable people.
There’s more information here and here
Three intact spears were initially discovered in 1992 by archaeologist Hartmut Thieme of the Institute of Ancient Monuments in Hanover, Germany. He found them in an active lignite mine, in an area roughly 30 to 50 feet (8 to 15 meters) below the surface. Since then, five more have been discovered. Radiocarbon dating has now confirmed that these weapons range in age from about 380,000 to 400,000 years.
The spears, each more than 6 feet to about 7.5 feet long, were carefully shaped to form a center of gravity a third of the way from the tip. This proportion is still used in modern javelins to allow them to fly farther and more accurately. Each was made from spruce tree trunks, each about 30 years old when harvested, with the tip formed from the harder lower end of the trunk. The similarity of construction shows that they were not randomly carved, but rather that their makers were working to a standard pattern.
The spears were not found in an archaeological vacuum. Archaeologists have recovered thousands of pieces of bone, many of which bore cut marks made by flint tools. The flints themselves were discovered along with grooved wooden "handles" which may have held them to create knives and fleshing tools. If that is the case, the flints and wooden "handles" may be examples of the oldest composite tools known in the world.
Prior to the discovery of the Schöningen spears, it was thought that only modern humans could have developed the design and construction skills needed to create them. They also may shed light on the hunting methods of these ancient people. The bones found at the site include elephant, horse, and deer. These animals are not easily killed by lone hunters, so the implication is that the people who created and used the spears hunted in groups. This would have required the ability to plan and carry out organized hunting expeditions.
The discovery of the Schöningen spears caused a sensation when it was announced. It also helped in establishing the credibility of the 500,000 spear fragment found at Clacton, England in 1911 found in deposits of comparable age to those of Schöningen. It is astonishing that the Schöningen spears survived at all, but the issues raised by their existence still have some experts scratching their heads and rethinking their positions regarding the intelligence of these ancient and remarkable people.
There’s more information here and here
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