Primitive Age of Human Society (contd-1)

In 2010, fossilised animal bones bearing marks from stone tools were found in the Lower Awash Valley in Ethiopia. Discovered by an international team led by Shannon McPherron, at 3.4 million years old they are the oldest evidence of stone tool use ever found anywhere in the world.^[1]

The oldest known stone tools have been excavated from several sites at Gona, Ethiopia, on the sediments of the paleo-Awash River, which serve to date them. All the tools come from the Busidama Formation, which lies above a disconformity, or missing layer, which would have been from 2.9 to 2.7 mya. The oldest sites containing tools are dated to 2.6–2.55 mya.^[4] One of the most striking circumstances about these sites is that they are from the Late Pliocene, where previous to their discovery tools were thought to have evolved only in the Pleistocene. Rogers and Semaw, excavators at the locality, point out that.

Mounted Neanderthal skeleton, (Range of Homo neanderthalensis. Eastern and northern ranges may extend to include Okladnikov in Altai and Mamotnaia in Ural)

The primitive human being began to prepare new types of weapons such as spear, spade, wooden bows and arrows etc. With the help of these instruments it became easy for them to collect more foods and good shelter. By this way they learned to use different instruments for different purpose and their life became more easy and safe..

(Neanderthal skull, La Chapelle-aux-Saints, fig-left) (Mounted Neanderthal skeleton, American Museum of Natural History fig-right)

 

The Neanderthals or Neandertals  are an extinct species or subspecies of the genus Homo. They are closely related to modern humans. They are known from fossils, dating from the Pleistocene period, which have been found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia. The species is named afterNeandertal ("Neander's Valley"), the location in Germany where it was first discovered.

Neanderthals are classified either as a subspecies of Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) or as a separate species of the same genus (Homo neanderthalensis). The first humans with proto-Neanderthal traits are believed to have existed in Europe as early as 600,000–350,000 years ago.