Independent Innovation: Stone Age Technologies from Europe Revealed

Independent Innovation: Stone Age Technologies from Europe Revealed

Researchers at the Universities of Tübingen and Arizona have questioned the common assumption that a 42,000-year-old key culture came to Europe through people from the Middle East. The current study, published in the Journal of Human Evolution, examines stone artifacts from the Ahmarian culture, primarily at the Ksar Akil site in Lebanon, and the Protoaurignacian culture in Italy. Dr. Armando Falcucci and Professor Steven Kuhn conducted a comprehensive comparative quantitative analysis.

The results of the study show that the technologies for producing stone tools in Europe were developed independently of the processes in the Middle East. Although the Ahmarian culture is considered a western extension of the Middle Eastern culture, the differences in tool making reveal significant divergences.

Different manufacturing techniques

Sites in Italy were included in the analysis, including the Grotta di Fumane, Riparo Bombrini and Grotta di Castelcivita. Despite similar external features of the tools, clear differences in manufacturing techniques were identified. These findings suggest that European hunter-gatherers developed their technologies independently. The study therefore calls for a reassessment of the assumptions that technological innovations in Europe were introduced primarily through immigration from the Middle East and points to the complexities of the spread of Homo sapiens in Eurasia, including interaction with Neanderthals and Denisovans. (uni-tuebingen.de)

In addition to this study, researchers report significant discoveries at Al-Ansab 1, located approximately 10 kilometers south of Petra, Jordan. This site is considered one of the best-preserved Ahmarian open-field sites. Excavations led by Jürgen Richter at the University of Cologne have shown that the production methods of similar blades played an important role in the hunting of ungulates in the early Upper Paleolithic. These small, slender slats marked the beginning of long-distance hunting and led to a departure from previous hunting practices.

Cultural changes in the Upper Paleolithic

From 2018 to 2021, some of the material was reanalyzed by Jacopo Gennai, the lead author. Particular attention was paid to the el-Wad peaks, which are characterized by more precise typometric criteria. These new findings could transform the understanding of the earliest Upper Palaeolithic industry in the Levant and open new research directions. (herder.de)

The Stone Age itself, considered the earliest period in human history, is characterized by the production and use of stone implements. It began with the oldest tools of the Oldowan culture 2.6 million years ago and spans several cultural phases, from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic. The Paleolithic period, which also includes the Aurignacian culture, is crucial for the development of Homo sapiens, particularly in terms of technological and cultural changes. With the transition from the last cold period to the Mesolithic period around 11,700 years ago, a new era began in which agricultural practices also took hold and social structures changed. (wikipedia.org)

The combination of these research shows that there were diverse and independent developments in stone technologies in the Stone Age, which indicate a high level of innovation among early humans, both in the Middle East and in Europe.