Ancient people recycled tools 500,000 years ago

The study area is believed to be home to the ancient Homo erectus and the Acheulian Stone Age culture. This culture is popular in Africa, Europe and Asia.

An international team of researchers, led by Israeli experts at Tel Aviv University, has discovered evidence that ancient people used tiny tools to be recycled more than 500,000 years ago. The results of this study were published in Scientific Reports on September 11.

The study was based on analysis of experts on 283 small flint stones found in the Revadim region, central Israel, dating back to 300,000 years and 500,000 years ago.

The study area is believed to be home to the ancient Homo erectus and the Acheulian Stone Age culture . This culture was popular in areas of Africa, Europe and Asia then with the production of many large stone tools, mainly used to slaughter large animals.

Since ancient humans rely primarily on meat and especially animal fat to survive and thrive, slaughtering and taking all possible sources of energy from these large cattle played an important role in surname.

In the study, the scientists conducted a microscopic observation of the objects as well as inorganic and organic material that remained on it.

Through analysis, the experts discovered that the flint samples were not only 'industrial waste' from the production of larger tools, but also that they were products of discarded and recycled artifacts in order to Used for other purposes.

Of which, about 107 small flints show signs of processing cattle meat. The 11 flint also shows the remaining organic and inorganic substances, mainly bones and soft cells. Experiments conducted also show that the 3cm-long flint stones may be used for sophisticated operations, in parallel with larger slaughter tools.

The above study shows that the view not to waste everything reflects a delicate culture and early awareness of environmental protection. The researchers concluded that awareness of the ecological environment helped ancient people develop over thousands of years.

1. Humans know how to use tools from 3.4 million years ago
2. Ancient people used stone axes 1.76 million years ago