Scientists found the oldest known elephant bone tool in Europe at a site in the United Kingdom where elephant remains are scarce.
The 500,000-year-old tool was used for knapping, or breaking flint and other stones into axes and spear points.
“This find marks the earliest known instance of elephant bone being utilized as a raw material in Europe, as well as the earliest unambiguous reported use of elephant bone as a knapping percussor,” researchers Simon Parfitt and Silvia Bello write in the journal Science Advances, published January 21.
Organic knapping tools made from bone, antler and wood were essential to creating early tools, but are rarely preserved. The bone percussor would be used to chip away stones to shape them and create sharp edges, as well as to re-sharpen tools after use.
The Maryland regional primitive skills organization Ancestral Knowledge, which teaches knapping classes, describes the process as “the most effective way to produce the sharpest edge possible on stones.”
The researchers speculated that the tool found in southern England must have been sourced in Europe, where mammoths and elephants were more common.
“This find provides further evidence of the strategic selection and curation of organic tools among early hominins, implying a high level of resourcefulness, adaptability, and a nuanced understanding of their environment and available materials,” authors Parfitt and Bello write in their published paper.
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