Note this ridiculous headline that appeared in the National Post:
Stone tools older than man found: Were our ancient ancestors already toolmakers before evolving into humans?
Stone tools that are older than man have been found — suggesting that our ancient ancestors were already skilled toolmakers before they evolved into humans.
In a discovery which could rewrite the history books, archaeologists working in north-western Kenya found sharp cutting tools which date to 700,000 years before the first members of the genus homo emerged.
In a discovery which could rewrite the history books, archaeologists working in north-western Kenya found sharp cutting tools which date to 700,000 years before the first members of the genus homo emerged.
Small-bodied archaic humans were already living in Indonesia and the Philippines by the time the shell was carved. See John Hawks' report "New insights into the biology of Homo luzonensis."
Related reading: Stone Work of the Ancient World; Who Laid the Foundations of Science?; Mining Blood; The Tool Makers of Kathu; 500,000 Year Engraved Shell; African Stone, Shell, and Egg Technologies
The criss-cross hatching fascinates me. Within my trade (finite-element simulation), there is an ongoing tension between the use of triangular (or tetrahedral for 3d) elements vs quadratic (or hexahedral, for 3d) elements. Triangular elements can describe most if not all geometries. Square elements are desireable for many reasons, but are not adaptable to describe many geometries.
ReplyDeleteSimply put, we can fill pretty much any surface exclusively with triangles. We can't do that with circles, nor squares, nor hexagons, etc (the latter two figures need to be truncated when they are at the edges of the surface).
It's not Finite Element Analysis, and it's not the Louvre, but it may be that these shell carving ancients noticed this feature of the triangle.
Are you aware of a zoological definition of 'animal' that includes recognition of geometric properties? :)
Great comment, Jay. Thanks.
ReplyDeletePyramids, sacred mountains, and triangulation are dependent on recognition of something prior - two points, what we might designate a binary set: east-west; high-low, male-female, etc. - all observable in the order of creation. Triangulation represents greater complexity of thought. The binary feature of the human brain, not the size of the brain cavity, makes complexity of thought possible.
You might find these articles interesting:
http://www.virtueonline.org/biblical-worldview-binary#.UeA-n9LOvU1
http://biblicalanthropology.blogspot.com/2013/07/does-binary-feature-signal-greater.html
Archaic humans were making jewelry about 10,000 years before they created the red ochre stone shown with the criss-cross markings. See this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070618091210.htm
Thanks Alice.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't make out the hatchings on the adornments. Might have missed that.
I take it that these are earrings? Most of them are topologically distinct from modern earrings, which open and close (I see one there that could be maneuvered onto an earlobe). This raises two technological questions - whether they had some form of wire (vegetation or metal) to affix the adornments, and how they drilled the holes. I knew a guy who claimed that he could drill a hole in a pane of glass. My other grandfather, a machinist, took him to task for that claim (a claim that I believe, btw).
Regarding the binary aspect of human cognitive ability, has there been a school that has promoted this since Structuralism's honeymoon ended?
The jewelry made from shells is clearly the work of human hands. Fully human.
ReplyDeleteLong before Structuralism, people recognized a binary feature in the order of creation. Jacques Derrida explored this extensively and noted that in narratives when a gender reversal takes place, the other becomes the dominant voice. Normally, the dominant voice is that of the Male Principle, but when the reversal takes place, the Female Principle is in action. There are many examples of this in the Old Testament.
Claude Levi-Strauss did not invent something with Structuralism. He studied primitive people groups and found that their worldview involved binary sets. His book "The Raw and the Cooked" presents this feature of archaic thought.
Here is more on that:
http://jandyongenesis.blogspot.com/2012/04/levi-strauss-and-derrida-on-binary.html
RE: "The jewelry made from shells is clearly the work of human hands. Fully human."
ReplyDeleteYes. The position and size of the holes are consistent enough to suggest a practiced hand.
Besides bicameral mind, the human line has other unique traits. Hairlessness and breath regulation are but two. What environment required these adaptations? I think it was a papyrus estuarine. I think the cross-hatch pattern is fish scales.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fascinating idea, Susan, and very probable.
ReplyDeleteThat would also impress me. Fish scales are either described by ~rhombus shapes, or by a sector of a circle. The two triangles that make up one scale is an inference.
ReplyDeleteThey would still be recognizing the property of triangles within the fish scale.
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/2960/fishscaleslb8.jpg