Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

SLIP411 t1_j63xxk5 wrote

Reply to comment by marketrent in More than 1.2 million years ago in Ethiopia, an early hominin species made handaxes using only obsidian (a type of volcanic glass that can produce blades sharper than surgical steel) by marketrent

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

2

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

7