Found a kind of super glue from the Stone Age - The sign of intelligence is not known?

Stone age humans are master chemists. A recent study said that they can synthesize an extremely complex natural glue - very skillfully, they blend the chemical and physical properties of the loess (another name is ocher - a kind of iron-containing dye) with the adhesive of the acacia tree, creating glue for tools with handles.

Archaeologists believe that the dye is blood-red, used some 70,000 years ago in what is now South Africa, intended to be used for decoration or to have some symbolic meaning.

However, scientists also have doubts about the possibility that the dye added is not accidental but purposeful. The dye can be added to improve the glue that helps to bind human tools.

So researchers recreated ancient glue, using only stone-era materials and technology.

The results show that the glue contains less brittle and less fragile loess; At the same time, it is definitely more than a glue made only from glue alone.

'We found that when using loess, more durable glue and stone tools are better adhered, not removed from the handle' - Lyn Wadley, a member of the research team at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg - South Africa said.

(Photo: National Geographic)

Ancient people are smarter than we often think?

However, making glue is not easy for ancient Africans.

It is a job that requires great intellectual effort. It requires people to explain the differences in the chemical composition of the binders obtained from different plants and in the iron content of loess taken from different locations.

Wadley said 'They may not be aware of pH or iron metal . but they know that combining certain things can be effective'.

'Our research shows that there are many similarities between our technology and the technology of these ancient people. Their technology is even more sophisticated than what they often value. '

She also added that the research results also suggest that the human intellect in the Stone Age has many similarities to that of modern humans than previously thought.