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marketrent OP t1_j629fts wrote

Findings in title quoted from the linked paper^1 in Nature Ecology & Evolution and an Italian-language summary^2 by ANSA news agency.

From the linked paper:^1

>Pleistocene archaeology records the changing behaviour and capacities of early hominins.

>These behavioural changes, for example, to stone tools, are commonly linked to environmental constraints.

>Simbiro III level C, in the upper Awash valley of Ethiopia, allows us to test this assumption in its assemblage of [575] stone tools made only with obsidian, dated to more than 1.2 million years (Myr) old.

>Following the deposition of an accumulation of obsidian cobbles by a meandering river, hominins began to exploit these in new ways, producing large tools with sharp cutting edges.

>We show through statistical analysis that this was a focused activity, that very standardized handaxes were produced and that this was a stone-tool workshop.

>We argue that at Simbiro III, hominins were doing much more than simply reacting to environmental changes; they were taking advantage of new opportunities, and developing new techniques and new skills according to them.

>[The 575 of 578] standardized obsidian handaxes provide ample evidence of the repetitive use of fully mastered skills.

>[The early hominins] creatively solved through convergent thinking technological problems such as effectively detaching and shaping large flakes of the unusually brittle and cutting volcanic glass.

^1 Mussi M., et al. A surge in obsidian exploitation more than 1.2 million years ago at Simbiro III (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia). Nature Ecology & Evolution (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01970-1

^2 Officina artigianale di 1,2 mln di anni fa scoperta in Etiopia, 20 Jan. 2023, https://www.ansa.it/sardegna/notizie/2023/01/20/officina-artigianale-di-12-mln-di-anni-fa-scoperta-in-etiopia_9c0dda4f-c7f8-4fd4-9cbd-3fbce9af0a20.html

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SLIP411 t1_j63xxk5 wrote

Is the obsidian used 1.2 million years old or the axes are 1.2 Myr old?

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ghloperr t1_j65c9ze wrote

They probably carbon dated the wood or other materials used with the obsidian. Can't carbon date obsidian because no carbon.

edit: https://phys.org/news/2023-01-obsidian-handaxe-making-workshop-million-years.html

> Dating of the material around the axes showed them to be from approximately 1.2 million years ago.

edit edit: apparently there is a method for dating obsidian artifacts, but I don't think it's what they used here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian_hydration_dating

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nikstick22 t1_j62pii1 wrote

Are the handaxes we find at these sites the errors/mistakes or were they making tools correctly and throwing them away for some reason

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That_Ganderman t1_j64i1vw wrote

I’m reasonably confident whoever made them died

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nikstick22 t1_j64p1i4 wrote

It's a question about the scholarly interpretation. Except in the case of a catastrophic end, we'd expect any sites we find to be either refuse or discarded material. Ostensibly, a well-made handaxe would be taken from the manufacturing site and used until the blade was too chipped, worn or broken to be useful and discarded elsewhere.

The paper says that the handaxes found all show very similar construction. Is there any evidence as to why these similarly constructed tools were discarded or left at this site?

I don't think your joke is helpful.

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That_Ganderman t1_j65af0u wrote

I gave a no-bake answer to a half-baked question.

I've broken it down for you grug-style.

I broke axe. Must make axe. Had make axe two suns ago. Back hurt after making axe long time. I put fur on butt-spot. Back still hurt. Make hand spot that taller than butt spot. Back not hurt so much.

Congratulations. You now have a "workshop."

Axe break often. Need axe. Hand spot make build axe fast. Still take time. Can't hunt when making axe. Ask friend make axe instead. She say no. I say her "I give some meat I hunt so you use hand spot make axe." She say yes. Able hunt more. Get more meat. When back from hunt bring axe rocks. She take some meat from hunt and take axe rocks. She make all axe rocks many axes. Too many axes. Small ones might hurt on axe on ground. Put all axe not using in pit. Tell small ones not go in pit.

You now have a storage location.

Many suns happen. Break axe. Go to axe pit. No axe? Talk friend. She say no more axe rocks. Take whole sun get axe rocks. Give friend axe rocks. She make many axes. Very tired since rocks heavy. Carry some rocks after all hunt now. She always make axe with rocks. I always have axe. Me and friend have meat. Life good.

And now you have a stockpile.

This is obviously a dramatization and shouldn't be taken literally, in case you think I have any delusion of the factuality of the story.

In short: It's safer, cleaner, more convenient and more efficient to have a condensed stockpile of usable axes in a certain location rather than make them as-needed.

If everybody died suddenly, the axes would remain. If they died slowly the large stockpile may have outlasted them. If they moved away there is no point in carrying hundreds of something so easily replaceable.

I don't think your question contributed anything meaningful.

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mroboto2016 t1_j62zku6 wrote

We have obsidian arrow heads made by ancient Native American tribes here in North Cal. There's a road called bottle rock road nearby, and during road work I saw boulders of it 6 feet across.

The stuff is sharp.

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ccReptilelord t1_j6451uq wrote

Wouldn't obsidian make for a terrible axe? Unless it was an axe for killing people or game.

0