New: Early humans tooled up

A haul of stone blades from a cave in South Africa suggests that early humans were already masters of complex technology more than 70,000 years ago.

The tiny blades — no more than about 3 centimetres long on average — were probably used as tips for throwable spears, or as spiky additions to club-like weapons, says Curtis Marean, an archaeologist at Arizona State University in Tempe who led the team that found the bladelets.

Twenty-seven such blades, called microliths by archaeologists, were found in layers of sand and soil dating as far back as 71,000 years ago and representing a timespan of about 11,000 years, showing how long humans were manufacturing the blades....

More information: http://www.nature.com/news/early-humans-tooled-up-1.11765

                                       

Tiny microlith blades were being used by humans more than 70,000 years ago.

Simen Oestmo