Not microchips, but microliths
Part 4: Technological progress and the history of mankind
Homo habilis, our first ancestor that used stone tools 2,6 million years ago probably wouldn’t recognize the first archaic humans as family that just diverged from apes 7 million years ago. And he also wouldn’t recognize the advanced Neanderthals that lived 100,000 ago when he would come across them in his time. So big were the differences within the 3 million years before and after him.
Our image of many of our ancestors is based on stereotypes, and the idea that mankind was the same throughout the Stone Age. When you think of the Stone Age you may think of caveman and stone tools:
And it’s true that hominins sheltered in caves and used stone tools. Yet in the previous chapter we saw that this view overlooks many developments. Stone tools, especially hidden in caves, are very well preserved in the archeological record. Things like wood, and animals skin less so. This may also be one reason why the distorted picture has emerged.
Still even a stone tool isn’t just a stone tool as we saw in the last chapter. The following video is a good recap of the development of these tools:
When we arrive in the Upper Paleolithic, about 50,000 years ago, things like fine-grained tools, cooked meat, trade and art were already commonplace. Not only by Homo sapiens, but also by Neanderthals, for example. In many ways, the Neanderthals of Eurasia were our predecessors.
The oldest known Neanderthal cave painting is a red hand stencil in the Maltravieso cave in Spain. It was carbon-dated to be more than 64,000 years old. Homo sapiens hadn’t even arrived in Europe by that time. The first known cave paintings by Homo sapiens are from around 51,000 years ago in Indonesia.
It was around this time that Homo sapiens almost completely spread all over the world:
Homo sapiens arrived in Europe quite late because of the cold climate. Neanderthals seemed to have adapted better to this environment. However, a warmer climate, interbreeding (many of us still carry a few percent of Neanderthal DNA) and competition caused Neanderthals die out.
The last record of Neanderthals was around 42,000 years ago. Then we, Homo sapiens, were alone (except for a few Denisovans). One of the hypotheses that Homo sapiens were more competitive is that we lived in larger groups, had more trade and exchange of ideas. One of those ideas was the needle, which was used to sew clothes much tighter than had previously been done.
The first cultures
Needles were often made from bone, which was a common material used by Homo sapiens, though rarely found at Neanderthal sites. With all these basic tools and ideas, cultures begin to form. Hunting in large groups was already a strategic and commutative challenge, but better weapons and probably symbols or language gave humans the upper hand.
This doesn’t mean that there was no fear or no respect for other large predators, as we often see in cave art. Or the famous lion man, carbon-dated between 41,000 and 35,000 years old.
We can imagine that people came back from hunt and sat by the fire to tell each other stories. It is one of the hypothesis of how myths came to be.
As for the tools they used, they became much more versatile in the Upper Paleolithic. The hand axe invented by Homo erectus was a much more universal tool. Say the Swiss Army Knife of the Old Stone Age. In the Upper Paleolithic, however, many of the tools were designed for a specific purpose, for hammering, cutting, drilling, and piercing.
All over the world various cultures emerged like:
1. The Aurignacian culture, located in Europe and south west Asia. This dates from 43.000 to around 28.000. The Aurignacian tool industry is characterized by worked bone or antler points with grooves cut in the bottom. Their flint tools include fine blades and bladelets struck from prepared core rather than using crude flakes.
Besides tools this culture also created the earlier mentioned lion man and even flutes.
2. The Aterian culture centered around North Africa. The earliest find go back to 150.000 years ago, all the way up to 20.000 years ago. The Aterian is primarily distinguished through the presence of tanged or pedunculated tools, and is named after the type site of Bir el Ater (Modern Algeria). Leaf-shaped tools are also a common artefact type in Aterian assemblages, and so are racloirs and Levallois flakes and cores.
3. Kebaran culture, was a culture of people living in the Levant around 23,000 till 15,000 years ago. The Kebaran stone tools are characterized by so-call small microliths. The microliths were used in spear points and arrowheads. Some sites have so many microliths that they were almost produced on a ‘industrial’ scale.
There have been many more cultures over the world during the Upper Paleolithic like the Gravettian culture (Europe, 33,000 till 20,000 years ago), Stillbayan culture (East Africa), Emirian culture (Middle-East, 50.000 till 40.000 years ago), Jōmon period (Japan, around 16,000 yeara ago) and Whadjuk and Noongar culture (Australia, around 40,000 ago). All of the cultures show remarkably advancements and more sophisticated tools.
The grand final
The final Stone Age, between 20,000 and 10,000 years ago, is defined by the appearance of microliths tools. This age is placed between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic, and is sometimes called the Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic.
One of the most advanced cultures in the Mesolithic is the Natufian Culture that existed between 15.000 and 11.500 years ago in the Levant. They were the successor of the Keraban Culture.
The culture was unusual in that it supported a semi-sedentary population even before the introduction of agriculture. They were also found to be the first culture to use bread and beer.
The Natufians had a microlithic industry centered on short blades and bladelets. The microburin technique was used. This technique was an efficient way to make effective stone tools with minimal material and effort. It was used to create small, sharp stone tools from larger pieces of flint or other stone. The process was as follows:
- Prepare a flake: A small piece of stone, called a flake, is struck off a larger core.
- Create a notch: A small notch is made near the edge of the flake.
- Snap the flake: The flake is snapped at the notch, producing two smaller pieces with sharp edges.
This technique allows the creation of tiny, precise tools that could be used for detailed work, such as cutting or scraping. The Natufian were also the first culture were sickles were found as the one below:
As we have seen in the Lower Paleolithic (early and middle Stone Age) there were various inventions and refinements, but it was until the Upper Paleolithic that curve of exponential growth began. This slowly accelerated in the Epipaleolithic, until we entered the age of disruption. This is the final stage before we see the exponential technological growth as we experience today. This is the subject of the next chapter.
