Elephant carcasses broken down and bones turned into tools, archaeologists find
3 years, 7 months ago

Elephant carcasses broken down and bones turned into tools, archaeologists find

The Independent  

Archaeologists have catalogued an unprecedented trove of prehistoric bone tools they say were created on a kind of production line some 400,000 years ago. The experts said there was evidence that hominids in what is now Castel di Guido, west of Rome, broke down elephant carcasses to make “standardised blanks” for a wide range of tools. In all, 98 verified tools were found on digs between 1979 and 1991 including knives, a “smoother” for working leather and intermediate objects likely designed to aid the process of segmenting elephants’ long bones. “At other assemblages, there were enough bones for people to make a few pieces, but not enough to begin a standardised and systematic production of bone tools.” However, it is not thought the Castel di Guido group was necessarily more intelligent than others; the new paper calls their prolific tool-making “more a matter of technical evolution than an innovation due to higher levels of cognition”.

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Ancient humans made tools from animal bones 1.5 million years ago
3 weeks, 6 days ago

Ancient humans made tools from animal bones 1.5 million years ago

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Early humans were regularly using animal bones to make cutting tools 1.5 million years ago. A newly discovered cache of 27 carved and sharpened bones from elephants and hippos found in Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge site pushes back the date for ancient bone tool use by around 1 million years. Researchers know that early people made simple tools from …

European Neanderthals were CANNIBALS just 40,000 years ago, grisly remains reveal
8 years, 8 months ago

European Neanderthals were CANNIBALS just 40,000 years ago, grisly remains reveal

Daily Mail  

Ancient bones discovered in Belgium have revealed the gruesome butcheries carried out by Neanderthals more than 40,000 years ago. Researchers say the skeletal remains are the first known evidence of cannibalism among groups north of the Alps, and bodies were likely skinned and cut up, with bone marrow extracted. The Goyet caves have so far produced the greatest amount of …

Neanderthal tools present new challenges to archaeologists
11 years, 7 months ago

Neanderthal tools present new challenges to archaeologists

CNN  

Story highlights Archaeologists uncover 50,000-year-old specialized bone tools The tools are discovered at Neanderthal sites Modern humans are thought to have arrived in Europe at least 40,000 years ago CNN — Neanderthals likely died off about 30,000 years ago, but they may have come up with a tool-making technique that influenced later humans in Europe, a new study suggests. Scientists …

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