A new study published in the prestigious Journal of Human Evolution by Dr. Ron Schimmelmitz, Dr. Iris Gruman-Yaroslavsky, Prof. Mina Weinstein-Evron and Prof. Danny Rosenberg, from the Zinman Institute of Archeology at the University of Haifa, identified the ancient tool Most so far, which was used for the erosion of various materials about 350,000 years ago, even before the advent of Homo sapiens.
The vessel, a rounded dolomite robe with microscopic abrasion marks on it, is found in the Tabun Cave in Carmel, one of the flagship sites of prehistory in Israel and around the world, and is about 150,000 years ahead of any other vessel in the world that bears evidence of abrasion. “The extraordinary discovery from Tabun Cave shows that hominins processed various materials through their erosion about 350,000 years ago. “Improve and maximize the ways in which environmental resources are utilized,” the researchers said.
Tabun Cave, part of the complex of sites that make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Nahal Maarot in Carmel, is a unique site that has uncovered a sequence of archaeological strata that indicate hominin activity (human species, including ancient human species) in the last half million years. 90 years as a key site for the study of human evolution.
The unique find was unveiled as part of a new project led by Dr. Shimmelmitz, together with Prof. Mina Weinstein-Evron and other partners in Israel and around the world, in which findings from past excavations at the site are re-examined (research supported by the National Science Foundation, Gerda Henkel Foundation and Dan David Foundation). While scanning the excavations unearthed in the cave by Prof. Arthur Jelink of the University of Arizona in the late 1960s and yet to be researched and published, Dr. Schimmelmitz noticed that one of the stones showed clear abrasion marks, known from much later stone vessels, but not from ancient vessels thousands of years.
Careful research of the item in the laboratories of the Zinman Institute of Archeology allows a systematic characterization of weathering and signs of use on its surface. The study was conducted together with Prof. Danny Rosenberg, head of the Laboratory for Stoneware and Ancient Food Processing Technologies and Dr. Iris Grumman-Yaroslavsky, head of the laboratory To study signs of use, focus on microscopic analysis of the robe. The results of the study showed that the robe does indeed bear characteristic signs indicating that the ancient vessel was operated in a horizontal motion – from side to side, i.e. in a motion of grinding.
To understand and interpret the patterns they identified under a microscope, the researchers conducted a series of controlled grinding experiments using dolomite pebbles collected in Carmel and similar in their characteristics to pebbles from a tabun cave. In these experiments, different materials were worn over different periods of time with the help of the pebbles, which were immediately subjected to a microscopic examination, in which the erosion models created in the experiments were documented. “While the results did not show a perfect match between the abrasion patterns documented on the unique robe and those we documented in the experimental study we conducted, we found many similarities to the abrasion marks obtained from the erosion of the animal skins and concluded that the ancient stone was used for abrasion of soft materials. Exactly, “said Dr. Grumman-Yaroslavsky.
“While the tool is ‘simple’, seemingly, its early appearance and the fact that it has no parallel at such an early stage of human evolution give it global importance,” the researchers said. According to them, the early emergence of erosion technology demonstrates the depth and complexity of the chain of technological innovations associated with human evolution. When did hominins start to erode food and other substances? Where did it happen? And why? These are some of the questions that concern the researchers of human evolution.
“In fact, the evolution of the next technology reflected in stone tools, directly reflects the patterns of change in the abilities of the ancient hominins to shape their environment,” said Dr. Schimmelmitz, adding, “the period 200-400 thousand years ago is a period of important technological innovations and significant changes. In human behavior. For example, the use of fire becomes part of the day-to-day routine, and the use of base sites from which one goes out for various activities becomes a way of life. In this way, erosion technology does not appear alone, but is intertwined with an array of broader change that to some extent foreshadows the complex behavior familiar to us from later humanities – the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. “
As mentioned, the following evidence for the tools used for erosion is found only about 150,000 years later. Was this ability lost until it was “found” again after so many years? “Although we have not been able to tie the item for food processing with certainty, it is highly probable that it was used. Either way, for us who deal with food archeology and its processing methods in different periods, from prehistory to the present day we, the small bathrobe is of immense importance because it allows us to keep track After the earliest origins of the act of erosion and how cognitive and motor abilities that developed during human evolution have finally evolved into important phenomena in human culture to this day, primarily involving the erosion and development of food production techniques such as permanent sitting, agriculture, storage and complexity. Prof. Rosenberg.