Hafting stone points to spears was an important advance in weaponry for early humans. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that ~500,000-year-old stone points from the archaeological site of Kathu Pan 1 (KP1), South Africa, functioned as spear tips. KP1 points exhibit fracture types diagnostic of impact. Modification near the base of some points is consistent with hafting. Experimental and metric data indicate that the points could function well as spear tips. Shape analysis demonstrates that the smaller retouched points are as symmetrical as larger retouched points, which fits expectations for spear tips. The distribution of edge damage is similar to that in an experimental sample of spear tips and is inconsistent with expectations for cutting or scraping tools. Thus, early humans were manufacturing hafted multicomponent tools ~200,000 years earlier than previously thought.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1227608 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Experimental and Numerical Study on the Failure Characteristics of Brittle Solids with a Circular Hole and Internal Cracks.
Materials (Basel)
February 2022
College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China.
A stress analysis of a circular hole is one of the classical problems in mechanics. Internal cracks are inherent properties of materials, and they are mostly three-dimensional in form. However, studies on hole problems with three-dimensional internal cracks are still lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFData of 16S rRNA gene amplicon-based metagenomic signatures of arecanut rhizosphere soils in Yellow Leaf Disease (YLD) endemic region of India.
Data Brief
October 2021
ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod, Kerala 671124, India.
Arecanut ( L.) is an important plantation crop cultivated predominantly in the Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, West Bengal, and Maharashtra in an area of 5.19 lakh ha, with Karnataka State alone accounting for about 68.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNutricosmetic effects of Asparagus officinalis: a potent matrix metalloproteinase-1 inhibitor.
Sci Rep
April 2021
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand.
This study aimed to investigate the nutricosmetic effect of Asparagus officinalis extracts. The tip and spear of A. officinalis were successively extracted with 95% ethanol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPerceptions About Mindfulness and Text Messaging for Smoking Cessation in Vietnam: Results From a Qualitative Study.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth
June 2020
School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Background: With 15.6 million smokers, Vietnam is one of the top 10 largest cigarette-consuming countries in the world. Unfortunately, smoking cessation programs are still scarce in Vietnam.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVoluntary elevated ethanol consumption in adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats: Procedural contributors and age-specificity.
Alcohol
August 2019
Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, 13902, United States.
Alcohol consumption is typically initiated during adolescence, with the incidence of binge drinking (production of blood ethanol concentrations [BECs] > 80 mg/dL) peaking during this stage of development. Studies in outbred rats investigating the consequences of adolescent ethanol exposure have typically employed intragastric, vapor, or intraperitoneal administration to attain BECs in this range. While these procedures have yielded valuable data regarding the consequences of adolescent exposure, they are varyingly stressful, administer the full dose at once, and/or bypass digestion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!