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zoobyshoe
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Unbelievable difference:
"...dated to 44,000 years ago, about twice as old as widely believed..."
POISON darts and beeswax have been found in a South African cave, suggesting that a hunter-gatherer culture emerged 20,000 years earlier than previously thought.
Artefacts at the Border Cave, an archaeological site on the border of Kwa Zulu Natal and Swaziland, have been reanalysed and dated to 44,000 years ago, about twice as old as widely believed, said the research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
These signs of advancement, signalling perhaps the oldest traces of modern culture in what is known as the Later Stone Age, would coincide with the first known migration of humans from Africa to Europe, said the US-published study.
The research focused on items left by what are known as the San people, including ostrich eggshell beads, bone arrowhead points, wooden digging sticks, warthog tusks and beeswax likely used for making tools...
Technological and use-wear analysis of these objects, and their comparison with experimental and ethnographic data, reveals that a number of specialised bone tool types (wedges, pièces esquillées, pressure flakers, smoothers, sequentially notched pieces), previously known only from the Upper Palaeolithic and more recent periods, were manufactured and used at least 30,000 years earlier at Sibudu Cave.
The discovery of a hunter-gatherer culture that is 20,000 years older than previously thought sheds new light on the development and evolution of human societies. It challenges the long-held belief that the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies occurred relatively recently, and highlights the resilience and adaptability of early human populations.
The discovery was made through the excavation and analysis of ancient stone tools found in a cave in Mexico. These tools were dated using advanced techniques, such as radiocarbon dating and luminescence dating, which allowed researchers to accurately determine their age and establish the existence of an earlier hunter-gatherer culture.
This discovery tells us that early human populations were more widespread and diverse than previously believed. It suggests that different cultures and societies developed independently and at different times, rather than following a linear progression towards agriculture and civilization.
The discovery of a hunter-gatherer culture that is much older than previously thought challenges the traditional narrative of human history, which posits that early humans lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers before transitioning to settled agricultural societies. It also raises questions about the impact of environmental and cultural factors on the development of human societies.
This discovery opens up new avenues for research and encourages us to re-examine our understanding of early human development. It also highlights the importance of using advanced techniques and interdisciplinary approaches in archaeology and anthropology to uncover new information about our ancestors.