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Stone chips 71 thousand years ago, shows the capacity of our species

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Since when do you have cognitive and cultural characteristics that differentiate our species from others? Are they proper and therefore the early brains of Homo sapiens also had the capabilities of contemporary H. sapiens, or have they been developing over time? This is an ancestral debate and there is no clear evidence of accepting one hypothesis and rejecting the other, but if you consider an article published online in the journal Nature it seems that the first hypothesis is gaining ground.

An early and enduring advanced technology originating 71.000 years ago in South Africa is the title of the article entitled “An early and sustainable technology created 71.000 years ago in South Africa”, approximately. The authors are archaeologists and paleontologists from the universities of South Africa, the United States, Australia and Greece, who describe some stone sheets they have discovered on South Africa's Pinnacle Point Hill and its consequences.

These small stone chips discovered, with a maximum length of 3 cm, are the oldest found to date. The oldest are 71,000 years old and in the period of 10,000 others have been found with the same technology. According to archaeologists, this shows that, in addition to the ability to generate technology, they also had the ability to transmit and preserve it from generation to generation.

According to the article, the process of making these sheets is quite complex and can be summarized in six steps: collecting pieces and transporting them; collecting the wood to make the fire; treating the stone to the fire; pressing the core of the stone; obtaining chips; carving chips to give it the proper shape.

Archaeologists are convinced that these plates were used to place them at the end of the arrows. Therefore, to put these splinters on the ends of the sticks and make bows and arrows they had to take other steps. In addition, they would have to use more materials such as fibers and resin. All this involves planning work and controlling the process over time. For archaeologists, these characteristics are also features of the contemporary brain.

In fact, archaeologists have pointed out at the end of the article that our species expanded and dominated thanks to these capabilities. In fact, these weapons would allow them to hunt at a distance and receive fewer wounds in interpersonal fights. Moreover, when they left Africa and met the Neanderthals, they have also mentioned that these weapons would be the key, since the Neanderthals had only spears.