Latest news with #MiddleStoneAge
Rudaw Net
18-05-2025
- Science
- Rudaw Net
Stone Age footprints discovered in Soran
Also in Kurdistan Kurdistan Region governors to visit Sanandaj for economy talks Duhok mother dies after alleged blood transfusion error PM Barzani arrives in Washington for energy talks Solar power on the rise in Sulaimani with private users, new plant A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Human footprints dating back to the Stone Age have been discovered in the Soran district of Erbil province, a local expert said on Friday. 'We have discovered several archaeological remains dating back to the late Old Stone Age and the beginning of the Middle Stone Age,' Abdulwahab Sulaiman, head of the Soran independent administration's archaeological department, told Rudaw. The archaeological layers, according to Sulaiman, had been lost for over half a century after being first discovered by foreign archaeologists in 1951. 'After that, no other traces were found until we discovered these layers at the foot of Plngan Mountain, and they are the footprints of humans from that era,' he said. A five-year contract signed with the Autonomous University of Barcelona has resulted in the discovery of 'several important archaeological sites,' Sulaiman said. Approximately 1,200 archaeological sites are registered in the Soran Independent Administration, according to statistics provided by Sulaiman. The Kurdistan Region is home to a wealth of archaeological sites, ancient cities, and religious landmarks that bear witness to thousands of years of continued civilization. These include remnants from the Sumerian and Assyrian eras as well as Neanderthals.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Carved wood dating back 6,000 years goes on display
A piece of decoratively carved wood experts believe is the oldest ever found in Britain has gone on display. The 6,000-year-old piece of oak, found in Boxford, Berkshire, was only the second wood carving to be discovered from the Mesolithic period in the country. It was found by chance in peat about 1.5m (5ft) below ground as a workshop was being built by landowner Derek Fawcett in 2019. He contacted West Berkshire Council's archaeologists, who passed it onto Historic England, which conserved it and carried out age analysis before it was displayed at West Berkshire Museum in Newbury. Experts could not use dendrochronology - more commonly known as tree-ring dating - to find a match in the wood but were able to take radiocarbon measurements from two single annual tree rings. They found there was a 95% probability that the final ring formed in the wood dates back to 4640 BC to 4605 BC, during the Mesolithic period or the Middle Stone Age. The timber was preserved in peat at the bottom of a trench that had been dug for foundations for a workshop [Historic England] At that time, people were tending to live a more settled lifestyle and moving away from hunting and gathering. The Berkshire wood is 2,000 years older than Stonehenge and 500 years older than the other known piece of carved Mesolithic timber, which was found near Maerdy in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, in 2012. The meanings behind the markings on the wood are not known but they are reminiscent of the decoration seen in early Neolithic pottery. "We are absolutely delighted to be installing this incredible artefact," Marie-Louise Kerr, the museum's curator, said. "It might not look like very much when you first see it but…it's something that was made by the people of West Berkshire 6,000 years ago." The wood is now slightly smaller than when it was found after tests and was conserved with a waxy material called polyethylene glycol, followed by freeze-drying. The council said it was working with the Boxford Heritage Centre over the possibility of putting the wood on display there in the future. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. More on this story Related internet links
South China Morning Post
08-04-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
China was home to Neanderthals, not just Europe or Middle East, Stone Age find suggests
Neanderthals might have lived in today's southwestern China during the Middle Stone Age, newly discovered tools similar to those previously found only in Europe and the Middle East suggest. Advertisement An international scientific team unearthed some 3,500 stone artefacts at a site in Yunnan province, and dated them to between 60,000 and 50,000 years old. Some stone tools showed key features of Quina technology – a tradition associated with Neanderthals living in cold, arid European environments around 70,000 to 40,000 years ago. The team of archaeologists, based in Australia, China, France, Italy, Spain and the United States, published their findings last week in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The Middle Paleolithic, or Middle Stone Age, which lasted from around 300,000 to 40,000 years ago, was a critical period in human evolution. In Africa, it was closely associated with the origin and evolution of early modern humans, while in Eurasia, it was linked to the development of different archaic human groups, such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans, the team said in contextualising its findings. Advertisement It was previously believed that early hominids in China showed slow technological development, particularly in adopting Middle Paleolithic advancements. But the new discoveries might change this idea, according to the paper.
The Independent
01-04-2025
- Science
- The Independent
How the discovery of an ancient stone tool could rewrite human history
Neanderthal-like stone tools, made using the Quina method, have been discovered in China, challenging the conventional understanding of human evolution in East Asia. This discovery disputes the idea that the Middle Stone Age (between 300,000-30,000 years ago) was a period of stagnation in East Asia, while Europe and Africa saw significant advancements. A Quina stone scraper, thick and asymmetrical with a broad and sharp working edge, was found with clear signs of use and resharpening. Researchers are uncertain whether this technology was introduced to East Asia by westward migration or developed independently. Further investigation, including the search for ancient human remains, may reveal whether this technology is linked to Neanderthals, Denisovans, or even an unknown human ancestor.
The Independent
01-04-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Neanderthal-like stone tools unearthed in China could rewrite human history
Archaeologists in China have found stone technology previously thought to have been used by Neanderthals in Europe, challenging our understanding of human evolution in East Asia. The Quina method of making stone tools had previously been found in Europe but never in East Asia. The Middle Stone Age, a crucial time in human evolution between 300,000 and 30,000 years ago, is usually believed to have been a dynamic period of progress in Europe and Africa, but rather static in East Asia without much development among the early human ancestor populations living there. The Middle Stone Age is also linked to the origin and evolution of the modern human species, Homo sapiens, in Africa as well as the development of archaic human groups like Neanderthals and Denisovans. Now, though, scientists have found the Quina technology at an archaeological site in southwestern China dated to between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago, challenging this assumption. 'This is a big upset to the way we think about that part of the world in that period of time,' said Ben Marwick, a co-author of the study from the University of Washington. 'It really raises the question of, what else were people doing during this period that we haven't found yet?' Researchers discovered a Quina stone scraper, thick and asymmetrical with a broad and sharp working edge showing clear signs of use and resharpening, as well as byproducts of its use. These tools, scientists said, were likely used for scraping and scratching bones, antlers or wood. Archaeologists are perplexed how tools known to have been used by Neanderthals in Europe arrived in East Asia. They are unsure if the technology was introduced in the region by people coming from the west or if it was independently developed with no direct contact between groups. 'We can try to see if they were doing something similar beforehand that Quina seemed to evolve out of,' Dr Marwick said. "Then we might say that development seems to be more local – they were experimenting with different forms in previous generations, and they finally perfected it.' Alternatively, if the Chinese tools appeared without any experimentation compared to those discovered in Europe and Africa, it could imply the technology was transmitted by another group. 'The idea that nothing has changed for such a long time in East Asia also has a tight grip on people," Dr Marwick said. 'They haven't been considering the possibility of finding things that challenge that. Now maybe there are some scholars who are interested in questioning those ideas.' Researchers say uncovering more ancient human remains in the area may help solve the puzzle. "There have never been any Neanderthals found in East Asia, but could we find a Neanderthal? Or, more likely, could we find a Denisovan, which is another kind of human ancestor?' Dr Marwick said. 'If we can find the human remains associated with this period, we might find something surprising — maybe even a new human ancestor that we don't know about yet.'
