Oldest-Known Grinding Tool Used 350,000 Years Ago Was Found In Tabun Cave, Israel

Conny Waters – AncientPages.comResearchers examined the prehistoric, 350,000-year-old stone tool that was used to grind food and other materials, and to make the hard life of hominids easier.

The artifact is the oldest tool identified to date, was discovered near Haifa, and was used at least 50,000 years the appearance of Homo sapiens, according to a new study.

 A prehistoric tool found in Tabun Cave, Mount Caramel. Image credit: University of HaifaA prehistoric tool found in Tabun Cave, Mount Caramel (Image: University of Haifa

Researchers from the University of Haifa describe the artifact as a round dolomite stone that bears microscopic signs of grinding. The rock was discovered in northern Israel, in the Tabun Cave on Mount Carmel, one of the most prominent prehistoric sites in the world.

The tool dates from a period some 150,000 years earlier than any other tool used for grinding found to date.

The Tabun Cave is part of a complex of sites that make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Carmel. Evidence of human and pre-human activity over the last 500,000 years has been uncovered in the cave, which for 90 has supplied material that has contributed to the understanding of human evolution, writes Israel Hayom.

According to the researchers, this very old and rather unique find indicates that hominids used grinding as a way of processing various materials, which they described as “major technology”. It was perhaps their desire to improve their conditions of daily life.”

Oldest-Known Grinding Tool Used 350,000 Years ago Was found In Tabun Cave, IsraelTabun Cave at Mount Caramel in northern Israel where tools were discovered.

“The small cobble is of immense importance because it allows us to trace the earliest origins of the abrasion action and how cognitive and motor abilities that developed during human evolution eventually evolved into important phenomena in human culture to this day, primarily involving abrasion and development of food production techniques, stationary settlement, agriculture, and storage and later an increase in social and economic complexity.”

“We concluded that the ancient stone was used for the grinding of soft materials, although we do not yet know which ones exactly,” Dr. Iria Groman Yroslavski, said.

According to Ron Shimelmitz of the University of Haifa’s Zinman Insтιтute of Archaeology, the method would have allowed the hominids to process materials much more delicately. And although the researchers are confident they know how the tool was used, it remains a mystery what the tool was used for.

The sheer simplicity of the tool may have led to researchers overlooking them in the past.

The discovery was published in the January 2021 issue of the Journal of Human Evolution

Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer

Related Posts

Andalusia Was First Inhabited By Neolithic People From The Southern Part Of The Iberian Peninsula 6,200 Years Ago

Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – The island of San Fernando, Cadiz in Andalusia, was home to the first Neolithic farmers and shepherds who decided to permanently settle there around 6,200 years ago. They practised shellfish collection and consumption all year round, with a preference for winter. Location of Campo de Hockey site in southern Iberian […]

Unknown Bronze Age Settlement Discovered Accidentally In Heimberg, Switzerland

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Sometimes, when archaeologists look for one thing, they find something entirely different. This is exactly what happened in Switzerland when researchers were excavating, hoping to find an ancient Roman brick workshop, but they unearthed a previously unknown Bronze Age settlement instead. The excavation in Heimberg, on the right edge of […]

Unexplained Mystery Of The Dangerous Invisible And Unidentifiable Enemy In A French Town

Unexplained Mystery Of The Dangerous Invisible Enemy In A French Town

Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com – It was an ordinary day in a small, sleepy town in France. There were no indications anything strange was about to happen. Yet, an inexplicable and extraordinary event left the unsuspecting residents completely bewildered and unsure of what was unfolding. The situation that unfolded was indeed unusual, if not bizarre. […]

Rare 2,800-Year-Old ᴀssyrian Scarab Amulet Found In Lower Galilee

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Erez Avrahamov, a 45-year-old inhabitant of Peduel, made an incredible discovery while hiking in the Tabor Stream Nature Reserve located in Lower Galilee. He stumbled upon an ancient seal shaped like a scarab that dates back to the First Temple period. Credit: Israel Antiquities Authority This ancient artifact is as […]

Dinas Powys: Late ‘Antique Hillfort Phenomenon’ In Post-Roman Western Britain

Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Dinas Powys, Glamorgan, located about 9km southwest of Cardiff, is a small inland fort of approximately 0.35ha. The hillfort was first excavated by a team of archaeologists led by Leslie Alcock from 1954 through to 1958. The site is often referenced as a prime example of elite settlements in post-Roman […]

Puzzling Vasconic Inscription On Ancient Irulegi Hand Resembles Basque Language

Puzzling Vasconic Inscription On Ancient Irulegi Hand Resembles Basque Language

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A few years ago, archaeologists excavating an Iron Age site known as Irulegi in northern Spain discovered a flat bronze artifact shaped like a human hand. After careful cleaning, they found it bore inscriptions of words from a Vasconic language. This language family includes Basque and several other languages that […]