1.7 Million Year Old Axes Found

[3113]

In case you've an axe to grind....

Stone instruments of an antiquity ranging between one million and 1.7 million years were discovered in India, which might help to explain the migration of the hominids in south of Asia. According to Science magazine, among the pieces found in a deposit of Attiramapakkam, in the state of Tamil Nadu, in the Indian southeast, double-edged stone axes were found, as well as cutters and other instruments of the so-called Achelense technology.

The Achelense technology is characterized by the planned and standardized manufacture of stones axes. Its distinctive elements are the bifaces (stone axes, picks and cleavers) carved in complex forms on both faces.

In Attiramapakkam, they located more than 3,500 instruments of rocks of quartzite in hand axes that began to be made some 1.6 million years ago, which can help to understand the migrations of hominids across Asia.

Hard sometimes to remember that we modern homo sapiens (only about 200,000 years old, tops) weren't the first hominids or tool users.

 

[stephen55]

I wonder if they had axes to grind back then...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

AXE NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU, AXE WHAT CAN I DO FOR MY COUNTRY. Barack Obama

 

[TE999]

Hence the term 'bury the hatchet' (in your opponents head).

 

[amicus]

Heh! (double, Heh!)



ami

 

[JackLuis]

I wonder if they had axes to grind back then...

Chipped or flaked, depending upon the technique.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I wonder if they had axes to grind back then...

They had trees to cut down.

 

[lovecraft68]

I wonder if they had axes to grind back then...

I heard they were left behind by axcident.

 

[stephen55]

http://shekel.cs.huji.ac.il/comics-and-funnypics/29-08-99/farside_caveman_a.jpg

Stone axes were only part of early human advances....

 

[xssve]

^There goes the neighborhood^

 

[R. Richard]

Hard sometimes to remember that we modern homo sapiens (only about 200,000 years old, tops) weren't the first hominids or tool users.

So, what happened to the hominids who were (maybe) the first tool users?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I find this kind of hard to believe. 3500 stone artifacts in one site is just astonishing, and this was well before the time of modern hominids like Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal. This would have had to have been a virtual factory of plaeolithic manufacture, and that doesn't jibe in any way with what's known about Homo Erectus.

A google search on this "Achelense technology" turned up only 2000 hits, all of them apparently reprints of the same short article 3113 posted.

(Edited to Add: Ah! Here's what they probably mean: The Oldowan, which was formerly often spelt Olduwan or Oldawan, is the archaeological term used to refer to the stone tool industry that was used by Hominines during the Lower Paleolithic period. The Oldowan is significant for being the earliest stone tool industry in prehistory, being used from 2.6 million years ago up until 1.7 million years ago, when it was followed by the more sophisticated Acheulean industry.--WikiP.)

The article of this "discovery" first appeared on a site called Sott.net. Here what Sott.net says about itself:

Signs of the Times, or SOTT.net, was launched on March 26, 2002 by Laura Knight-Jadczyk.

A historian and author of repute in her own right, Laura Knight-Jadczyk is the wife of renowned theoretical physicist, Arkadiusz Jadczyk, one of the world's few living experts in hyperdimensional physics. [I'll bet he is! Probably the world's only expert. --dr.M.]

SOTT.net is a research project of the non-profit Quantum Future Group (QFG). The project includes collecting, arranging, and analyzing news items that seem to best reflect the movement of macrocosmic quantum energies on the planet. This research further includes noting whether or not human beings, individually and/or collectively, can actually remember from one day to the next the state of the planet, and whether they are able to accurately read that information and make intelligent decisions about their future based on that knowledge. In short, SOTT.net is an experiment.

While the site began as a one-woman operation, this work quickly attracted some truly fine, open minds - people interested in truth, many of whom are scientific professionals and whose work on SOTT is anonymous for their own protection. Our work has been attacked, suppressed, and marginalized by the Powers That Be in ways that no other work has been, leaving us with the distinct impression that we must be on the right track!

In 2009, SOTT successfully defended a First Amendment suit that attempted to learn the names of its editors. The attempt failed. After eight years, SOTT still refuses commercial advertising and support, and achieves its objectives via its own resources and some reader donations. Any and all "advertisements" you see on our site are included either to help in the fight against psychopathy and its effects on our world, or to help fund our continuing efforts.

Globe
Today, SOTT is comprised of an international body of 95 volunteer editors, including many leading-edge professionals in the so-called hard sciences, medicine, history, sociology, psychology, engineering, and information technology. Whatever the topic, SOTT.net has an expert (or two!) who handles content in that particular field.

SOTT.net stands out from the crowd not only for its commentary on world events and tracking of global trends, patterns, and energies, but also due to its original content from hard-hitting and insightful authors such as Joe Quinn. In addition, SOTT's Connecting the Dots series has rapidly become a monthly "must-read" for millions around the world.

From humble beginnings, Sott.net has rocketed to over 3.5 million hits a day with sites in four different languages. The editorial team would like to thank all of our readers for your unwavering support over the years.

Here's to a brighter future together!

On with the tinfoil hats, people.

 

[estragon]

How appropriate for Literotica.com, all these people getting excited about everybody else's tools.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

hyperdimensional physics? macroscopic quantum energies? "Spyin' on me with rays, millennium hand and shrimp I says, buggerit, buggerit . . ."

 

[3113]

I find this kind of hard to believe. 3500 stone artifacts in one site is just astonishing, and this was well before the time of modern hominids like Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal. This would have had to have been a virtual factory of plaeolithic manufacture, and that doesn't jibe in any way with what's known about Homo Erectus.

....On with the tinfoil hats, people.

Ah, dear me. Bogus is it? Well, I guess we'll have to axe this thread....

So, what happened to the hominids who were (maybe) the first tool users?

Homo Habilis, one of the first hominid tool users who lived about 2.3-1.4 million years go went extinct. As did the Neanderthals who also were tool users and were around for a good 300,000-400,000 years before us moderns appeared on the scene.

The genius in us moderns isn't being able to use tools (even chimps know how to throw a rock or use a stick to get what they want), it's in knowing how to make lots of different and more complex tools.