Reports Suggest Prehistoric Stone Tools Evolved Independently

<![CDATA[ in which they examined thousands of artefacts uncovered from the Nor Geghi 1 Site. This site in the Southern Caucasus had beautifully preserved Armenian artefacts embedded in the sediment, dating back between 200000 and 400000 years. The artefacts consisted of a mix of stone tools that were designed using two different processes - the Levallois tools were built using a stone tool method that is usually attributed to the Middle Paleolithic in Eurasia and Middle Stone Age in Africa, and the Bifactal Tools such as hand axes, that were most common among the humans who lived during the Lower Paleolithic period. The researchers believe that the presence of both types of stone tools at the Nor Geghi 1 site is a clear indication that the local human population developed the Levallois technology independently, using the technologies and knowledge they already had. According to Adler, the presence of different kinds of technologies at the site proves that the locals who lived there were extremely innovative. The paper documenting this study was published in the Science Journal on 26th September 2014. The paper makes the argument that the Levallois and Biface technologies might have been different, but they shared the same evolution. To make bifaced technologies, humans shaped stones by removing flakes from opposite sides, in order to create tools such as the hand axe. The flakes that were removed were discarded as waste. On the other hand, for Levallois technology, the stones were shaped by removing flakes, but only in order to produce the core of the tool. The stone flakes were then reused, based on their shapes and sizes, to fashion other tools. Therefore, the Levallois technology was optimal when it came to producing the most from raw materials. The Levallois technology offered a number of other advantages. The small flakes were extremely easy to carry from one place to another, making them ideal for early hunter-gatherers. As a result, the Levallois technology has been interpreted as more advanced than the biface technology. Archaeologists compared archaeological data from a number of ancient historical sites throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The comparisons show that change was gradual in all three regions, and that it occurred independently at each site. In other words, the Levallois technology evolved in different places and at different times without any connection between the sites. These findings hope to challenge the present view that technological advances resulted from population change and migration. Adler claimed that if he compiled various artefacts from different places, and took them to archaeologists, they could immediately begin to categorize them into different technological periods, regardless of where the artefacts had originated. He also mentioned that the Nor Geghi 1 site is the first to show the technological variation as well as flexibility that the human population enjoyed during Pre Historic times.

Related Books

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Prehistoric Man
Researches Into the Origin of Civilization in the Old and the New World Vol. 1 of 2Vol. 1 of 2
by Daniel Wilson

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