Study of etched clamshells dating from 300,000 years ago, seems to suggest humans might be much older than thought: It raises the possibility that the development of human cognition — human culture — was a very long process. It was not a sudden development. Hat-tip, our good friend Detong Choyin. ------------------------ Archaeologist Stephen Munro nearly fell off his chair when he noticed patterns of straight lines purposefully etched on a fossilized clamshell. The engravings were half a million years old, which meant theyd been made by a Homo erectus—an extinct human species that predated Homo sapiens by upwards of 300,000 years. In addition to the engravings, Munroe and his colleagues found shells that were carefully crafted into specialized tools. Taken together, these discoveries suggest that Homo erectus was far more sophisticated than previously believed and capable of symbolic thought. ... The shells, which previously had been sitting in a museum, were collected more than a century ago by Dutch archaeologist Eugene Dubois on the Indonesian island of Java. Dubois had obtained the specimens from the same excavation site where, in the 1890s, he discovered the first-known remains of Homo erectus. ... In the seven years since, a team of scientists led by Joordens have been studying the shells, confirming their age and that the lines had not been made by animals. The results of their research have been published in Nature. ... And they did extensive microscopic analyses on the apparent engraving. Joordens notes that when the shell was fresh, it would have had a black exterior; the engraver would have produced a striking pattern of white lines on a black background. Its very carefully done, says Andrew Whiten, a psychologist and primatologist at the University of St Andrews in the UK. There is a wonderfully straight section and the [etch] turns in one continuous line. Thats not just intentional but careful in what strikes as a very modern way. Apes arent doing that. It would be staggering if they did. ... Still, she says, It raises the possibility that the development of human cognition — human culture — was a very long process. It was not a sudden development. io9/engravings-on-a-shell-made-300-000-years-before-humans-1666303398
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 04:07:39 +0000
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