AUSTRALIA: Global team finds oldest ground-stone axe
In the long history of science, there are few eureka moments. Sudden revelations are rare and science often progresses with Darwinian slowness. Even if they begin with a strikingly unusual hypothesis, most scientists set out to amass more and more data, as Darwin himself did, until they are confident their theories will stand the scrutiny of their peers.
. . .
Such is the case of an international team of archaeologists who found a piece of a stone axe in northern Australia and discovered its blade had been ground down thousands of years earlier than any similar object previously located.
They’re putting it at 35.5kbp. I wonder how certain they are that it is human-made?
Human-made, as opposed to … ?
Comment by Rusty — March 1, 2011 @ 12:06 pm
Non-human made.
Comment by acagle — March 1, 2011 @ 8:21 pm
Since I was previously unaware that advanced primates other than h. Sapiens had made it to Australia, I’m going to have to assume we’re talking about ground-stone axes being a relic of either (a) reptilians, (2)dendrolagus lumholtzi, or (D) Cylons.
Which one are we talking about here?
Comment by Rusty — March 1, 2011 @ 9:29 pm
Well, geofacts for instance (although Cylon-modified stone would be way cool, too).
Actually, I was wondering how certain they were that the fragment they’re talking about is cultural rather than natural.
Comment by acagle — March 2, 2011 @ 10:45 am
Ah, okay, I see what you mean.
I guess from a 4cm piece, unless you’ve got some pretty clear tool marks, and those would be probably weathered away by now … Pretty difficult to determine the actual cause of formation of this artifact.
Comment by Rusty — March 2, 2011 @ 7:21 pm