All articles tagged with #paleolithic
Archaeologists near Fureidis, northern Israel, uncovered a cave with Acheulo-Yabrudian tools and animal bones dating to about 400,000 years ago, suggesting large groups of hominins hunted and used fire there and indicating a complex, rich camp life that predates Neanderthals and modern humans. The site is of global importance, and researchers plan extensive, multi-year studies, though no human remains have yet been found.
Researchers analyzing cave-wall samples from Altamira, Escoural, and Covarrón found ancient human DNA preserved on pigment crusts and even unpigmented areas. Of 54 samples, five yielded authentic mitochondrial DNA (three women, one man, one unidentified), with some nuclear DNA linking individuals to Western Hunter-Gatherers. Preservation was rare (1 of 24 panels), suggesting cave walls can archive genetic traces of prehistoric visitors and offering a new, noninvasive way to study who touched the walls and how far Ice Age people ventured.
Researchers at Neumark-Nord, Germany, uncovered a multi-step Neanderthal bone-grease operation dating to about 125,000 years ago, including breaking bones, grinding fragments, and boiling them to render fat from at least 172 mammals. The site suggests deliberate, landscape-scale resource management with caching and transport of carcass parts, revealing advanced subsistence planning well before modern industry.
New findings from Germany’s Swabian Jura uncover 40,000-year-old engraved symbol sequences on Paleolithic figurines and tools. The signs are highly repetitive and show information density similar to early proto-cuneiform, implying an early, non-language form of symbolic communication that predates formal writing by tens of thousands of years, challenging views on the linear rise of writing.
A statistical study of 260 Aurignacian artifacts (43,000–34,000 years ago) identified over 3,000 marks arranged in deliberate, repeatable sequences with object-type–dependent patterns. The information-density patterns remained stable for about 10,000 years, suggesting a shared symbolic system used to store and organize information—an early precursor to writing, but not a direct representation of spoken language like protocuneiform. Researchers emphasize the exact meanings are unknown, yet the work implies complex symbolic communication by early hunter-gatherers long before true writing emerged.
Archaeologists studying a 27,000-year-old teenage burial in Italy found bite marks and multiple injuries consistent with a bear attack, offering rare direct evidence of predator–human encounters in the Paleolithic and suggesting the elaborately buried youth may have been a budding hunter whose death was marked with ritual protection.
Two artifacts found at a lake shore in Greece have been identified as the oldest wooden tools uncovered to date, dating to about 430,000 years ago. One is a roughly 80-centimeter digging stick, while the other is a smaller handheld piece of willow or poplar wood that may have been used to shape stone tools. The tools come from a wet, well-preserved context in the Megalopolis basin, and although the exact users aren’t known, they could have been Neanderthals or other early human ancestors. Wood tools are rarely preserved, making this discovery a rare glimpse into early technology, with more finds expected at the site.
A 4.3 by 2.3 inch elephant bone tool from Boxgrove, in southern England, has been identified as a retoucher used to knap and sharpen lithic hand axes about 480,000 years ago. This makes it the oldest known elephant-bone tool found in Europe and highlights early humans’ sophisticated material knowledge and craftsmanship, likely belonging to Homo heidelbergensis or early Neanderthals.
A study of small animal bones from four mammoth-bone structures in Ukraine suggests that at least one of these structures was used for over 400 years, likely serving as a shelter during the Ice Age, with dating indicating they are around 18,000 years old.
A 27,000-year-old teenage skeleton known as 'The Prince' was found with injuries likely caused by a bear mauling, and evidence suggests he survived for a few days after the attack. The lavish burial, initially thought to indicate high social status, may instead reflect ritual practices related to his traumatic injuries.
New archaeological findings suggest that the first humans in North America may have arrived earlier and via coastal sea routes along the Pacific, rather than solely crossing the Beringia land bridge, linking North American early settlers to a broader Paleolithic world and challenging traditional migration models.
Researchers analyzed bone fragments from the Starosele site in Crimea, identifying Neanderthal DNA and linking European and Siberian Neanderthal populations, suggesting migration routes across Eurasia around 45,000 years ago, facilitated by favorable paleoclimate corridors.
An international team discovered blue indigotin residues on 34,000-year-old stone tools from the Caucasus, indicating early complex use of plants like woad for dyeing or medicinal purposes, revealing sophisticated Paleolithic behaviors.
Archaeologists in China have discovered 300,000-year-old wooden tools from the Old Stone Age, indicating that early humans in East Asia crafted sophisticated tools for digging and planned visits to exploit underground plant resources, challenging previous notions of technological conservatism in the region.
Dr. Yousuke Kaifu and his team recreated a 225km Paleolithic-style canoe journey from Taiwan to Japan to demonstrate that early humans could have intentionally migrated across the sea using rudimentary technology, highlighting the complexity and skill involved in ancient maritime migrations.