Archaelogists in Kent unearth hidden Stone Age settlement

A team of archaeologists from the Shorne Hubcap Project have revealed a previously unknown Stone Age encampment some 6-8,000 years old.

Among thousands of fragments of flint have been found a variety of stone tools, including hand-axes, picks, and blades.

The finds are the results of recent excavations at a site in Cobham Woods by a group of 20 trained volunteer archaeologists, under the supervision of Kent County Council’s community archaeologist, Andrew Mayfield.

Over the past few weeks, the team has excavated some 20 small pits, each  one metre square. Every pit has revealed pieces of worked flint, painting a picture of a camp site repeatedly visited over the years by a tribe of nomadic Stone Age people.

Andrew Mayfield explained: “Because the people of the Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, period were nomads, they leave no traces of buildings or earthworks. Flint finds like these are the only evidence they leave.

“The Mesolithic period is a poorly understood part of Kent’s history, with few such finds elsewhere in the county. Because the finds at Ranscombe appear to be in much the same place they were dropped over 6,000 years ago, they could tell us a lot about our ancient past.”

Most of the fragments of flint found during the excavations are small flakes, the waste created by chipping pieces off a large flint in order to create a useful tool. But carefully-worked hand axes and picks up to 15cm long have been recovered, as well as stone adzes probably used for working wood. At the other end of the size scale are tiny, thin, razor sharp barbs which would have been fitted into the heads of arrows or spears for hunting.

Perhaps the finest piece found is not from the Mesolithic Period at all, but an arrowhead dating back some 4,000 years to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age. This suggests a long period of human occupancy of the area.

The site first came to notice late last winter, when Cuxton resident and history enthusiast, Dave May, noticed pieces of flint had been thrown up along a track during woodland management work. Mr May, whose work as a volunteer at Ranscombe Farm Reserve has given him a keen eye for Stone Age relics, soon spotted the flints for what they really were. He got in touch with Andrew Mayfield, who set up the detailed exploration.

The archaeological digs have been completed for now, and are not in a part of the wood which is easily accessible to visitors.

But the work will continue, with all the pieces being catalogued and sorted in order to gain a fuller understanding of how ancient people were using the site. There has been interest from the British Museum, and a full report will be prepared. It is also hoped to make more information, together with photographs of some of the most interesting finds, available via the internet.

Full story: http://www.kentnews.co.uk/news/archaelogists_in_kent_unearth_hidden_stone_age_settlement_1_1424019

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NPL analyses surface wear on stone tools

Innovative research by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Bradford used laser microscopes to explore how stone tools were used in prehistory, and the process has helped streamline surface measurement techniques for modern manufacturers.

Archaeologists at the University of Bradford hypothesised that reconstructing past activities was the best way to study what each tool was used for. They proposed to measure the surface structures of replica stone tools before and after they were used in different reconstructions on two natural materials – antler and wood.
NPL conducted surface measurement investigations on the replica tools using a confocal microscope to create a map of surface structure. Richard Leach, who led the work at NPL, said: “We measured the surfaces of each tool using a confocal microscope to create a map of its surface structure. Optical measurements create 3D constructions of each surface recorded without physically contacting the surface.”

Read the full story here: http://phys.org/news/2012-07-stone-age-tools-modern.html

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New find of Palaeolithic tools in India

In an ‘incredibly significant find’, archaeologists have discovered prehistoric remains at a river bank in Chhattisgarh’s Sarguja district, indicating continued settlements in the area from prehistoric to late medieval period.
     The tools and artefacts were found during exploration survey by archaeological department of Chhattisgarh government in January this year on the banks of river Renuka (called Renu by locals) in Mahespur area, nearly 40 km from district headquarters town of Ambikapur and around 350 km from Raipur.
     “We have discovered earliest stone age tools on the banks of river Renu. This is an incredibly significant find, since this is the first time Palaeolithic (stone age) tools have been discovered in Chhattisgarh. The remains, retrieved from Mahespur, also establishes for the first time a continuance cultural sequence from prehistoric to late medieval period,” archaeologist Atul Kumar Pradhan said on Sunday.

For full story go to:-
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/prehistoric-tools-artefacts-found-chhattisgarh-416

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Stone Age Europeans discovered America

New archaeological evidence suggests that America was first discovered by Stone Age people from Europe – 10,000 years before the Siberian-originating ancestors of the American Indians set foot in the New World.
     A remarkable series of several dozen European-style stone tools, dating back between 19,000 and 26,000 years, have been discovered at six locations along the US east coast. Three of the sites are on the Delmarva Peninsular in Maryland, discovered by archaeologist Dr Darrin Lowery of the University of Delaware. One is in Pennsylvania and another in Virginia. A sixth was discovered by scallop-dredging fishermen on the seabed 60 miles from the Virginian coast on what, in prehistoric times, would have been dry land.
     The similarity between other later east coast US and European Stone Age stone tool technologies has been noted before. But all the US European-style tools, unearthed before the discovery or dating of the recently found or dated US east coast sites, were from around 15,000 years ago – long after Stone Age Europeans (the Solutrean cultures of France and Iberia) had ceased making such artefacts. Most archaeologists had therefore rejected any possibility of a connection. But the newly-discovered and recently-dated early Maryland and other US east coast Stone Age tools are from between 26,000 and 19,000 years ago – and are therefore contemporary with the virtually identical western European material.
     Read the full story in the Independent here:-http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/new-evidence-suggests-stone-age-hunters-from-europe-discovered-america-7447152.html

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Stone age tools find

Dr. Douglas Bamforth will speak about the Mahaffy Cache, a collection of 83 artifacts discovered in 2008 beneath Patrick Mahaffy’s front yard in Boulder, Colo., during a landscaping project. The 13,000-year-old tools were made from raw materials originated from the Uintah Mountains in northeastern Utah to Middle Park in the central Rocky Mountains. Bamforth will present about the discovery, the details of its analysis, and its implications for what we know about the earliest occupants of North America. The free program will be held at the Estes Park Museum, this Saturday, Feb. 4, beginning at 2 p.m. No reservations are necessary.

Read the full story here http://www.eptrail.com/ci_19878522

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Archaeological report on palaeolithic vessel found on Mount Ararat

Harvard University educated archaeologist and director of the Paleontological Research Corporation, Dr. Joel Klenck, surveyed the site of an ancient vessel found on Mount Ararat in Turkey, analyzed the archaeological remains and completed a comparative study. “The site is remarkable”, states Klenck, “and comprises a large all-wood structure with an archaeological assemblage that appears to be mostly from the Late Epipaleolithic Period.” These assemblages at other sites in the Near East have calibrated radiocarbon dates between 13,100 and 9,600 B.C. Located at elevations above 4,200 meters on Mount Ararat and covered by layers of ice and stones, he states: “The site is wonderfully preserved, exhibits a wide array of plant materials including structures made of cypress and one room with a floor covered by chickpea seeds.” Klenck additionally notes, “I was most impressed by the artifactual assemblage, particularly the basalt bowls, stone cores and debitage.”

Full story here: http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/sbwire-114562.htm
 
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Mining operations threaten Zimbabwe’s stone age archaeology

These mining operations are a threat not only to Zimbabwe’s wildlife but also to its cultural and archeological resources. This mine between Sinamatella and Bumbusi camp is within a few kilometers of the Bumbusi Ruins, which is a national monument.  In addition to the stone ruins, where Late Stone Age tools have been found, there are unusual sandstone engravings. In recent years National Museums and Monuments have undertaken an excavation in the area and it is believed there are many more archeological finds to be made – unless they are destroyed during bush clearing and mining.

Full story here: http://www.sokwanele.com/node/2352

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Neolithic site discovered in Staffordshire

Experts believe they have found evidence of a 4,000-year-old Stone Age camp in the Midlands – thanks to a dog walker. Roger Hall discovered a handful of strange-shaped rocks while walking his dog in Cannock Wood, Staffordshire (England), but experts have identified them as flint ‘flakes’ – the off-cuts from tools crafted by Stone Age Man.

“If confirmed, they could mark the spot of the only Neolithic camp known in our region,” says Roger Knowles, a member of the Council for British Archaeology. He is convinced that buried beneath the grassland is a link between the period when mankind changed from nomadic hunter-gatherer to village dweller.

Fulle story here http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/004632.html

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Implements found in Arabian desert change ideas on "Out of Africa"

Newly discovered stone artifacts in the Arabian desert suggest humans left Africa traveling inland, not along the coasts, as long thought according to reports. 

Modern humans first arose about 200,000 years ago in Africa. When and how our lineage then dispersed has long proven controversial, but geneticists have suggested this exodus started between 40,000 and 70,000 years ago. The currently accepted theory is that the exodus from Africa traced Arabia’s shores, rather than passing through its now-arid interior.

However, stone artifacts at least 100,000 years old from the Arabian Desert, revealed in January 2011, hinted that modern humans might have begun our march across the globe earlier than once suspected.

Read full story here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45501635/ns/technology_and_science-science/

 

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Treasure trove of Palaeolithic tools unearthed in India

A team of scientists largely from the Anthropological Survey of India has unearthed a trove of Stone Age tools from caves  that offer evidence of human habitation in the region some 50,000 years ago.

The quality of the findings, according to the scientists, suggests that these caves could be as important as the rock paintings in the caves of Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh—a UNESCO Heritage site dating back to 30,000 years ago, the earliest and most visceral evidence of habitation by human and human-ancestors in India so far.

The tools, described in a paper in the latest issue of the Current Science journal, are an assortment of axes, cleavers, picks and choppers similar to implements found in other parts of Asia and Europe during the so-called Palaeolithic period (spanning nearly 2.5 million to 10,000 years before today).

Read the full story here:-
http://www.livemint.com/2011/11/09234216/Stone-Age-tools-found-in-Dante.html
 
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