350,000 yo grinding and rubbing tool found in Israeli cave

[Angela]

See:
https://www.archaeology.org/news/9396-210126-israel-rubbing-tool

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[COLOR=#000000 !important](Dr. Iris Groman-Yaroslavski)
[/COLOR]
HAIFA, ISRAEL—According to a Science News report, Ron Shimelmitz of the University of Haifa suggests that an artifact unearthed in Israel’s Tabun Cave in the 1960s is a 350,000-year-old tool for grinding and rubbing hides or plants. Shimelmitz and his colleagues found microscopic signs of wear and polish on the stone tool and compared them to marks they made on nine similar stones collected near the cave site, which is located in the coastal mountains of northern Israel. The team members rubbed the recently collected stones on hard basalt rock, wood of medium hardness, and deer hide. They found that rubbing stones on deer hide produced the wavy surface and clusters of shallow grooves found on the ancient tool. It had been previously thought that such wide, flat stones were first used as rubbing and grinding tools some 200,000 years ago.

 

[Palermo Trapani]

Wow interesting. So who made these tools? Hypothetically, if they were to find an early Homo Sapien fossil in this area from the same time, then this would push early archaic Homo Sapiens back 35,000 years earlier than Jebel Irhoud (circa 315,000 years ago) from Morocco in North Africa and place the earliest archaic Homo Sapien in West Asia. Now, could be something earlier from North Africa migrated into the Levant or perhaps vice versa. If it is not early Homo Sapien, then Neanderthal?, a Denisovan that expanded that far West? Any thoughts?

 

[Angela]

Some think the North African ones are pre-Homo Sapiens. There are no fossil remains here, just the tool, so it's unclear.

I personally think pre-Homo Sapiens relatives of ours were capable of tool making.

 

[Palermo Trapani]

Some think the North African ones are pre-Homo Sapiens. There are no fossil remains here, just the tool, so it's unclear.

I personally think pre-Homo Sapiens relatives of ours were capable of tool making.

Angela: Ok, thanks. So only tools, no human remains from this site. I tried to get the full paper on my home computer but could not yet.

 

[bicicleur 2]

since 500 ka tools (fist-axes) were found in that area typical for Homo Heidelbergiensis, a population ancestral to the Neanderthal-Denisovan-modern humans split
when they arrived 500 ka they hunted elephants, but these got extinct soon after
so they had to adapt and hunt smaller prey

 

[bicicleur 2]

See:
https://www.archaeology.org/news/9396-210126-israel-rubbing-tool

"

[COLOR=#000000 !important](Dr. Iris Groman-Yaroslavski)
[/COLOR]
HAIFA, ISRAEL—According to a Science News report, Ron Shimelmitz of the University of Haifa suggests that an artifact unearthed in Israel’s Tabun Cave in the 1960s is a 350,000-year-old tool for grinding and rubbing hides or plants. Shimelmitz and his colleagues found microscopic signs of wear and polish on the stone tool and compared them to marks they made on nine similar stones collected near the cave site, which is located in the coastal mountains of northern Israel. The team members rubbed the recently collected stones on hard basalt rock, wood of medium hardness, and deer hide. They found that rubbing stones on deer hide produced the wavy surface and clusters of shallow grooves found on the ancient tool. It had been previously thought that such wide, flat stones were first used as rubbing and grinding tools some 200,000 years ago.

so these were not grinding tools, but tools to work deer hide?

 

[Angela]

so these were not grinding tools, but tools to work deer hide?

They keep saying grinding as well as abrading in both this clip and the science article. Clearly it can be used to work deer hide but they don't give an example of how it could be used for grinding.

The pestle seems to me an optimal tool for grinding.

My pestle as well as the mortar are also made of Carrara marble. I use my mortar and pestle all the time. Cuisinarts etc completely change the consistency. Good for the upper arms and back too.

Mexicans use this for grinding corn; a stone rolling pin would work too.

I guess flat stones could be used too. Native American one:

This is the one from the original post: