Malaysia says 1.8 million-year-old axes unearthed

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian archeologists have unearthed prehistoric stone axes that they said Friday were the world's oldest at about 1.8 million years old.

Seven axes were found with other tools at an excavation site in Malaysia's northern Perak state in June, and tests by a Tokyo laboratory indicate they were about 1.83 million years old, said Mokhtar Saidin, director of the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Science Malaysia.

The group released their conclusions Thursday, and other archeologists have not yet examined the results.

"It's really the first time we have such evidence (dating back) 1.83 million years," Mokhtar said, adding that the oldest axes previously discovered were 1.6 million years old in Africa.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jJiHwFct3a0VJT6cCuQaCob02isAD961EFKG0

---

This is really an exciting find, if it stands up to later peer-review.

[tridim]

1. Antique axe..

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Stamped "Made in China"

[hughee99]

3. Did they find melamine or lead paint with it? n/t

[pasto76]

4. nonsense there is no way humans riding dinosaurs were around back then

clearly.

[Baby Snooks]

8. Sure there were...

They just weren't "white" humans - god created those humans about 6,000 years ago. Says so in the Bible. And no doubt god has regretted it ever since.

[pasto76]

10. true dat

[Skink]

5. Some new strings an it'll be fine.

Hopefully they uncovered the antique whammy bar too.

[undeterred]

6. So some people really do "bury the hatchet"

:shrug:

[No Elephants]

18. LOL

[guitar man]

7. "one ax had the owner's name inscribed"

"J. McCain" :rofl:

[No Elephants]

16. You so bad!

[Winterblues]

9. Don't understand how they can decipher the age of them?

They can't use Carbon 14 dating as there is no organic material in the axe. I guess they are going by the ground layer in which they were found. :shrug: a good guess at best I would say.

[McCamy Taylor]

11. There are methods similiar to Carbon14 with other elements.

Plus you can carbon 14 material associated with the axes.

[LibertyLover]

14. C-14 is not accurate for objects that old - or stone for that matter

It works on organic materials up to approximately 50,000 years old. They may have gotten an estimate of age using tephrachronology (lava dating based on material in the ash) or paleomagnetic dating.

[applegrove]

12. So cool.

[McCamy Taylor]

13. Holy moly! The timeline keeps getting pushed back. We find stuff in deserts first

because it is better preserved there. No telling what jungles and lakes may one day reveal.

[InvisibleTouch]

15. Isn't this back into the Australopithecine era?

Been a while since I brushed up on my anthropology, but I seem to recall the genus Homo isn't quite this old. Either the dates have been pushed back, or the Australopithecines were already handy with tools!

[No Elephants]

17. And 4 million years ago....

From the link in the OP:

"It's really the first time we have such evidence (dating back) 1.83 million years," Mokhtar said, adding that the oldest axes previously discovered were 1.6 million years old in Africa.

However, other chopping tools, as well as human remains, have been found in Africa that are much older, with some dating back 4 million years, he said.