Today, when we come across the word “technology“, we soon associate it with mobile devices like the one you are using to read this text.
However, technology means everything that has been improved to make a task easier. That's why, for example, a ceramic or a cutting tool made of stone is considered a technology of the time it was used.
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In this sense, researchers such as archaeologists and historians have a great fascination with learning about ancient technologies.
In this relentless search for ancient technologies that shaped the trajectory of human evolution, archaeologists have found what may be the oldest tool on the European continent.
Among these achievements of human ingenuity, a particularly intriguing one emerges as a possible precursor, an ancestral relic that illustrates well our search for practicality and efficiency.
(Image: Reproduction/Peter Pfarr)
Speculation about whether this tool may have been one of the first used by our species casts a fascinating retrospective look at the beginnings.
The Dr. Annemieke Milks was under the main responsibility of the research in question. The group of archaeologists was in Germany, more specifically in Schöningen, when they came across a stick that caught everyone's attention.
Milks says the discovery was a revolution
Through an official statement, Milks revealed that the archaeologists who found the stick promoted a true revolution in what is understood about the first human beings.
According to the doctor coordinating the research, the first human beings showed abilities remarkable by planning ahead and having a solid understanding of the characteristics of wood.
Additionally, they had advanced skills in woodworking, such as carpentry, which we continue to use to this day.
It all happened in 1994, and, at that time, the pointed stick was among other artifacts made with wood.
Why did researchers only know these details after 30 years?
At the time of the find, there was not enough technology to explore the details of the object. Therefore, only three decades later, researchers were able to do thorough analysis using, for example, 3D microscopy to reach the conclusion that this is the oldest artifact ever found.
Therefore, it is believed that the first humans, probably the Homo heidelbergensis or the Homo neanderthalensis, used these sticks as throwing weapons, similar to boomerangs, to hunt animals.
The piece differed in that it was made from fir branch wood, unlike other wooden tools that were made from logs.
The stick was used to stun animals, such as deer, rabbits and birds, before they were killed with spears. Finally, dark stains on the wood suggest the presence of animal blood or fat.
In this sense, the discovery provides fascinating insights into how early humans made weapons and hunted.
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