Prehistoric arms race started earlier than previously thought
Scientists have found evidence that human ancestors used stone-tipped
weapons 200,000 years earlier than once thought, findings that may
change notions about the capabilities of prehistoric people.
Spears topped with stone points were most likely used for hunting
large game and self-defense and were an important advance in weaponry,
according to Jayne Wilkins, in the journal Science. The points came from
one of the Stone Age archaeological sites in South Africa called Kathu
Pan 1, and were used a half-million years ago.
Researchers first thought the early humans were using sharpened
wooden spears or stone hand axes, Wilkins said. The steps to put a
sharp-tipped stone at the end of a wooden spear, called hafting, means
these ancestors had to engage in planning and other goal-driven thought
processes long before a hunt took place, she said.
"This expands the range of behavioral complexity known in human
ancestors living 500,000 years ago," said Wilkins, in a Nov. 13 email.
"The amount of fore-planning and goal-oriented behaviour required for
collecting stone, wood and bindings for hafting indicate capabilities
much greater than was previously known.
It also shows that stone-tipped spears were being used by the
ancestors of both modern humans and Neanderthals, so the technology is
probably not an independent invention nor something one group learned
from the other."
The spears were an improvement because the hunters could get further
out of harm's way and were more likely to make a successful kill, she
said.
The stone tips were recovered between 1979 and 1982 during
excavations. In 2010, researchers dated the site to about a half-million
years ago.
In the study, researchers replicated the stone points, attached them
to spears and then shot them at a dead animal using a calibrated
crossbow. The damage to the researchers' stone points was similar to
that seen on the 500,000-year-old points, Wilkins said. The stone points
also fit the size and shape of Stone Age points used as spear tips.
"This technology would also have provided another layer of protection
from other carnivores, Wilkins said. "Stone-tipped spears would have not
only helped our ancestors get food, but would also protect them from
becoming food. Some researchers have linked hafted technology - the
attachment of stone tools to wooden or bone handles - to language
because the sequential steps of combining materials to form a spear is
like a recipe that must be followed exactly to produce a result that
makes sense. In that way, hafting is analogous to creating a grammatical
sentence."
- Bloomberg News
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