The oldest tool identified to date, discovered near Haifa, was used some 350,000 years ago – before the advent of modern humans, an article in the Journal of Human Evolution by a group of Israeli archaeologists reveals.
Article authors Dr. Ron Shimelmitz, Dr. Iria Groman Yroslavski, Professor Mina Weinstein-Evron, and Professor Danny Rosenberg, all from the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, describe the artifact as a round dolomite stone that bears microscopic signs of grinding. The rock was discovered at the Tabun Cave on the Carmel, one of the most prominent prehistoric sties in the world.
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The tool dates from a period some 150,000 years earlier than any other tool used for grinding found to date.
According to the researchers, the rare find indicates that homonids used grinding as a way of processing various materials, which they described as "major technology" indicative of a desire and capability to process various materials to improve the ways in which they could use the resources of their environment.
"At such an early stage a very significant technology was added to [the hominids'] 'toolbox,'" researchers pointed out.
"The small cobble is of immense importance because it allows us to trace the earliest origins of the abrasion action and how cognitive and motor abilities that developed during human evolution eventually evolved into important phenomena in human culture to this day, primarily involving abrasion and development of food production techniques, stationary settlement, agriculture, storage and later an increase in social and
"We concluded that the ancient stone was used for the grinding of soft materials, although we do not yet know which ones exactly," Groman Yroslavski said.
The Tabun Cave is part of a complex of sites that make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Carmel. Evidence of human and pre-human activity over the last 500,000 years has been uncovered in the cave, which for 90 has supplied material that has contributed to understanding of human evolution.
The rock, originally excavated in the 1960s, was identified as part of a new project that Shimelmitz and Weinstein-Evron are leading to re-examine past findings from the site.
"We concluded that the ancient stone was used for the grinding of soft materials, although we do not yet know which ones exactly," Groman Yroslavski said.
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