35,000 year old Ivory Workshop discovered

[Ichingcarpenter]

Excavations at the mammoth hunting site of Breitenbach near Zeitz uncover 35,000 year old ivory workshop

In an international co-operation project, archaeologists from the Monrepos Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for the Evolution of Hominin Behaviour, part of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, (RGZM) and the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege and Archäologie in Saxony-Anhalt are excavating the 35,000 year old site of Breitenbach, close to Zeitz in Saxony-Anhalt. Other co-operation partners are the Faculty of Archaeology at the University of Leiden (NL), the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (ArchPro) in Vienna, the Institute of Geoinformatics i3mainz of the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz as well as the Institutes of Geosciences at the universities of Mainz, Tübingen and Cologne.

During this year’s campaign, site directors Dr. Olaf Jöris and Tim Matthies and their team found the oldest evidence for clearly distinct working areas which are interpreted as standardized workshops for working mammoth ivory. It was possible to identify a zone where pieces of ivory were split into lamella, as well as a second area where the pieces had been carved and their waste had been discarded. Some ivory beads and rough outs of unfinished products were also found amongst this debris, alongside several other ivory objects, including a decorated rod and fragments of a three-dimensionally modified object, very likely an object of art. The manufacturers were early modern humans similar to ourselves, who obtained mammoth ivory which had probably lain around at this site for some time, either from the carcasses of mammoths which had died here naturally or from the bodies of the victims of expert hunters. In the case of the latter scenario, the mammoths could have been hunted by modern humans or even by Neanderthals, since Neanderthals had only become extinct a few thousand years before the site was occupied by modern humans.

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http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=124350&CultureCode=en

[HereSince1628]

1. Interesting, process thinking and division of labor, have a long history. n/t

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Yet it still took 30,000 more years to get a civilization

in Sumaria. I think we are missing a lot of history during the melting of the ice caps, massive shoreline and estuary flooding the extinction of the mega faunas, and the comet impact of the Younger Dryas period

Humans are missing a lot of their history after looking at some the latest findings on advanced behavior in ancient times that hinted towards actions that gave hints of civilization in its infancy but never progressed for another 30, 000 years?

Diggerland disappeared and I imagine a lot of other places disappeared under the ocean or existing coastlines during the massive 400 foot rise of the oceans.

I still think Gobiki Tepi will reveal more after the other 95% is dug up. I can't believe it was buried on purpose but if it was then even more reason to find out WTF was going on there.

[HereSince1628]

3. IMO, civilization depended upon the establishment of 'set-place' agriculture.

Last edited Thu Sep 27, 2012, 05:38 PM - Edit history (1)

Which is characterized by year-round farms, planting is sometimes thought have been a connection between the practice of throwing out plant refuse onto waste middens and being there the next year to see food plants growing...

If that's true, and I don't know if the beginning of crop agriculture is still interpreted that way, then having a reason to return to the same site, over and over, such as a special site for working ivory would have been important.

Obviously division of labor is just one important step among many to becoming civilized (having culture that built and supporting cities). Mastering the domestication of animals and plants, including the realization that tillage fights weeds and improves germination took time. Achieving surpluses and learning how to store them took some more time. Later, disciplining the manpower that food surpluses made possible, into useful community building would probably be achieved in fits and starts, sometimes slowly sometimes fast (animal powered plowing shows up quickly in Asia, beasts of burden weren't used to do that work in the Americas). I guess I'm not too surprised that in some places in the world--Mesopotamia, south and east Asia, civilization arose in ten thousand years, and in other places it took twenty--or more--and that establishing communication and trade among cities took even longer.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Great News!!

... of great importance for our understanding of the roots of modern human behaviour itself...

Thank you!