Via LatinoPost: (hat tip Floyd)
New evidence from a recently-published scientific study indicates that
humans started crafting stone-tipped weapons 200,000 years earlier than
previously believed.
A team of scientists that included
researchers from Arizona State University, the University of Toronto,
and the University of Cape Town have uncovered signs of hafting, or the
art of attaching a stone tip to a spear, at an archaeological site in
South Africa called Kathu Pan 1. Hafting was a significant advancement
in human weaponry and hunting since it made spears more lethal and
durable.
"There is a reason that modern bow-hunters tip their
arrows with razor-sharp edges. These cutting tips are extremely lethal
when compared to the effects from a sharpened stick. Early humans
learned this fact earlier than previously thought," said co-author of
the study Benjamin Schoville, who is affiliated with the Institute of
Human Origins, a research center of the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences at Arizona State University.
Hafting was previously
attributed to Homo sapiens and Neanderthals around 300,000 years ago,
but the new findings indicate that a shared ancestor between the two,
Homo heidelbergensis, was practicing the craft 500,000 years ago....
... The dating of the recovered spear points was done by Naomi Porat from
the Geological Survey of Israel, and Rainer Grün from the Australian
National University.
You can find the study, titled "Evidence for Early Hafted Hunting Technology," in the journal Science.
