Early humans deliberately made mysterious stone ‘spheroids’
AFP | Washington
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
The early ancestors of humans deliberately made stones into spheres 1.4 million years ago, a study said on Wednesday, though what prehistoric people used the balls for remains a mystery.
Archaeologists have long debated exactly how the tennis ballsized “spheroids” were created.
Did early hominins intentionally chip away at them with the aim of crafting a perfect sphere, or were they merely the accidental by-product of repeatedly smashing the stones like ancient hammers?
New research led by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem suggests that our ancestors knew what they were doing.
The team of scientists examined 150 limestone spheroids dating from 1.4 million years ago which were found at the ‘Ubeidiya archaeological site, in the north of modern-day Israel.
Using 3D analysis to reconstruct the geometry of the stones, the researchers determined that their sphericalness was “likely to have been produced intentionally”. he early hominins -- exactly which human lineage they belonged to remains unknown -- had “attempted to achieve the Platonic ideal of a sphere”, they said.
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