Outstanding article. I was especially struck by the illustration of the Dolní Věstonice ceramic kilns. As a nipper in the 1960s, I lived near Coalbrookdale and can remember coming across the old and much neglected original furnace there. Never quite realised until now, how much the Darbys' innovations relied on our Palaeolithic ancestors.
your mention that 'many [handaxes] display a pattern of scratches and striations which look very similar to flint tools striking against iron pyrites (‘fool’s gold’). This combination has been well documented ethnographically, which is not a surprise since pyrite striking on flint produces a visible spark.' Could the basic function of the handax have been as a firestarter?
Per my understanding no one has ever come up with a convincing explanation of the use of the handaxes. Since they are sharp along their entire edge, all 360 degrees, they obviously weren't optimized for use literally as a 'hand ax' despite their name. I believe some famous anthropologist/archeologist, I can't remember who right now, suggested decades ago that they were used somewhat like frisbees, to kill game. Have any new theories about their actual use emerged?
Before reading on I have to type this comment I have changed my diet based on all things agribusiness, to one of growing more of the food I eat. I do cook most of it because of the information you cite. Imagine that, I am actually following along by rote. Yesterday I was chewing extensively on rutabaga stems, quite fibrous, I rather enjoyed the experience (of chewing before swallowing) Hahaha!
I feel great and have been spending a lot more time than normal hunting the forests (for meat), without being tired after a few hundred yards as was normal before the transition. One large meal a day the last 11 days, but not today... :-)
Came for the de-cancellation of the Anglo-Saxons. Staying for the delightfully accessible stories of ancestor ingenuity.
Outstanding article. I was especially struck by the illustration of the Dolní Věstonice ceramic kilns. As a nipper in the 1960s, I lived near Coalbrookdale and can remember coming across the old and much neglected original furnace there. Never quite realised until now, how much the Darbys' innovations relied on our Palaeolithic ancestors.
your mention that 'many [handaxes] display a pattern of scratches and striations which look very similar to flint tools striking against iron pyrites (‘fool’s gold’). This combination has been well documented ethnographically, which is not a surprise since pyrite striking on flint produces a visible spark.' Could the basic function of the handax have been as a firestarter?
Per my understanding no one has ever come up with a convincing explanation of the use of the handaxes. Since they are sharp along their entire edge, all 360 degrees, they obviously weren't optimized for use literally as a 'hand ax' despite their name. I believe some famous anthropologist/archeologist, I can't remember who right now, suggested decades ago that they were used somewhat like frisbees, to kill game. Have any new theories about their actual use emerged?
Before reading on I have to type this comment I have changed my diet based on all things agribusiness, to one of growing more of the food I eat. I do cook most of it because of the information you cite. Imagine that, I am actually following along by rote. Yesterday I was chewing extensively on rutabaga stems, quite fibrous, I rather enjoyed the experience (of chewing before swallowing) Hahaha!
I feel great and have been spending a lot more time than normal hunting the forests (for meat), without being tired after a few hundred yards as was normal before the transition. One large meal a day the last 11 days, but not today... :-)