Interesting.

SCIENCE UPDATES WITH DR DIANE EAGER

NEANDERTHAL WOODWORKING. Archaeologists have studied a large number of pieces of wood found at a site named Schöningen13 in Germany.  Many of the wooden objects show signs of being deliberately split and shaped into wooden tools. There were no human bones at the site, but as the site is dated at300,000 years so it is claimed the artefacts were made by Neanderthals or maybe Homo heidelbergensis.  The research team summarised their find by stating: “Wooden tools include at least 10 spears and seven throwing sticks used in hunting next to 35 newly recognized pointed and rounded split woods likely used in domestic activities.”  The non-hunting artefacts include pointed wooden tools that could have been used for piercing and working hides or plant material, digging sticks, and shafts that could have been attached to stone blades or axes. These sophisticated tools indicate careful planning and skill was needed to produce them. They were made from a number of different timbers – spruce, larch, and pine, which vary in strength and elasticity, and working the wood would have involved a number of carefully planned steps to get the right structure for the purpose.  Making a spear involves stripping bark, cleaning of branches, sharpening and hardening with heat, whilst making use of the orientation of wood grain so the point is made from the hard dense wood closest to the base of the tree. The domestic tools are also an indicator of intelligence and skill.  Lawrence Barham, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool who was not part of the research team, commented: “The non-hunting tools add to our understanding oft he diversity of Neanderthal behaviour … and help us relate to them: They had to live, and make clothes.”  The researchers also suggest our understanding of hunter-gatherer technology needs to be revised. Artefacts made from wood or other organic materials such as bone were probably more common that stone implements, but wood is not as well preserved as stone objects.  Dirk Leder, one of the researchers at the Schöningen site commented: “The whole idea of a Stone Age might be wrong.  Maybe we should be talking about a Wood Age.” Creation Research.