Stone-tipped spears predate human existence by 85,000 yrs [View all]

[Ichingcarpenter]

Remains of the world’s oldest known stone-tipped throwing spears, described in a new paper, and so ancient that they actually predate the earliest known fossils for our species by 85,000 years.

There are a few possible implications, and both are mind-blowing. The first is that our species could be much older than previously thought, which would forever change the existing human family tree.

The second, and more likely at this point, is that a predecessor species to ours was extremely crafty and clever, making sophisticated tools long before Homo sapiens emerged.

Homo heidelbergensis, aka Heidelberg Man, lived in Africa, Europe and western Asia from at least 600,000 years ago. He clearly got around, and many think this species was the direct ancestor ofHomo sapiens in Africa and Neanderthals in Europe and Asia.

The new paper, published in the latest PLoS ONE, focuses on the newly identified stone-tipped spears, which date to 280,000 years ago. They were found at an Ethiopian Stone Age site known as Gademotta.

Sahle, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Berkeley’s Human Evolution Research Center, and his team analyzed the weapons. They determined that the spears were made from obsidian found near the site. The toolmakers had to craft the pointy spearhead

http://zeenews.india.com/news/science/stone-tipped-spears-predate-human-existence-by-85-000-yrs_889825.html


I could have given you a fox news link but chose this instead .... its the real deal though.


http://www.plosone.org/
This was assembly line work which tells me we are missing a significant part of our history and development.

They appear to be throwing spears not jabbing spears which Neanderthals used which means it is even more advanced.