15,500 Year Old Stone Tools

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GerroldP

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Jan 30, 2011
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Science magazine: Stone tools 'demand new American story'
 
Considering their life expectancy was close to 30yr or so, a lot bigger than those...
 
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Their life expectancy was lower bc of things like a high infant mortality rate, death in childbirth, and very limited knowledge of healthcare or first aid. A broken ankle was basically a death sentence, if it happened away from the clan. I don't think those problems would be solved by a Busse. Actually, lifespan was even lower in the iron age, due to crowded city conditions and worse nutrition.

But I'm sticking with big steel, thank you very much, and I think cro-magnon would too. Just because it can be done one way doesn't mean I'D do it that way if I had the choice. Cool article find.
 
I have handled thousands of them when I worked at a museum, some I have handled made from obsidian were dug out of the ground sharper than any knife I own! not quite that old but stone tools in the latter periods show craft skills at a point I'd say superior to a lot of craftsmen making knives from steel.
 
These locally found are about 1500 (estimate) years old, so the advancement by comparison is apparent over the years. They were made by the Delaware Indians and no they were not the most advanced tool makers of the Native Americans.
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A) Life expectancy U.S.A 1860 all of 42 years ,
B) I've seen obsidian blades next to scalpels under the microscope,
guess what,the obsidian was MUCH sharper I.E no deformations.
The ancients and this goes back much more than 15K had a good
thing going.The problem was brittleness much like ceramic knives of today,
but for an experienced "flint blade maker" it takes literally only a couple
of minutes to replace.I've seen a demonstration ,Amazing.
 
jill jackson said:
These locally found are about 1500 (estimate) years old, so the advancement by comparison is apparent over the years.
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From around 9000 years you see advanced flint knapping (when the Neolithic period began)...especially in europe around france, which was a hub for stone tool trade and knapped stone beads. Of more recent times the Inca, Mayan and Aztec made some of the greatest stone blades in history.

There have been some real works of art found in Çatal Hüyük and Jericho. This one was found in the Çatal Hüyük dig, its very famous:

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http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/42-25027364.html

It wasn't just modern man with iron crafting art knives...I would kill to learn how to knap that precise!!!
 
It wasn't very long ago that some modern surgeons used obsidian scalpels for some types of surgery. An obsidian edge is much sharper then any steel blade. It was thought that an incision would heal faster and with less scar tissue when an obsidian blade was used.
 
UffDa said:
It wasn't very long ago that some modern surgeons used obsidian scalpels for some types of surgery. An obsidian edge is much sharper then any steel blade. It was thought that an incision would heal faster and with less scar tissue when an obsidian blade was used.
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Glass blades are used in laboratories for chopping up material that has to be dissolved and examined on a chemical level.
 
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