Researchers claim ancient humans had carved elephant bone tools that are not supposed to exist for another 100,000 years later. Explanations of why or how these tools came about are hard to hypothesize.
Discovering the use of elephant bone as tools way before the accepted timeline has thrown a wrench, and answers are sought. How these fit into the history of humankind needs to be sorted to its proper period.
The discovery
Tools were dug up from 1979 to 1991 in Italy at the Castel di Guido site, close to modern-day Rome. It has been examined against by scientists from the Colorado University in Boulder, reported the Daily Mail.
Most of the remnants have been carbon-dated way back to 400,000 years ago, and it seems an unknown branch of humans were the ones who used the tools.
It is quite normal to create tools for archaic humans, but something immediately caught the researcher's attention. The ancient humans made these tools with sophistication which was not possible until 100,000 years later more.
One of these bone tools is a smoother used to treat leather that would not be seen till 300,000 years later, remarked the study. The study lead, author Paola Villa, mentioned there were sites with carved elephant bone tools. This period had more well-defined shapes done by unknown ancient humans, which were earlier than expected.
The researcher's input
Castel di Guido sat outside modern Rome, where a gully and stream existed for 400,000 years. Extinct 13 feet tall straight-tusked elephants frequented this place to drink, stay awhile, and their graveyard cited Hot and Viral News.
Neolithic people made these systemic tools and produced them with a definite method similar to modern-day assembly lines. Villa added the toolmakers made the implement long elephant bones, then used templates to produce a copy of the tool. Surprisingly, this group mass manufactured the tools that were not expected in this era of history. It was squarely in the crossroad of humanity when the Neanderthals were in Europe at that time.
It is unknown why homo sapiens species made the tools, but the Neanderthals are the best guess. Until 400,000 years ago, Neanderthals used fire and where they started from.
Analysis of the tools
Of the tools re-examined by the Boulder scientist, they counted 98 tools made by the community when they were alive. Pre-modern humans are the ones who made the most number of tools in known human history to date. Several of the tools were serrated and can be used to cut meat and wedges to cut elephant bone for the templates. A distinct tool was noticed, made from wild cattle bone that is smooth and long at an end.
It was called a 'Lissoir,' which is a smoother used for leather treatment, but it did not exist until later. It was rare to find carved elephant bone tools when anything was just used by the ancient humans then, revealing findings published in PLOS One.
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