Around 600 obsidian handaxes from roughly 1.2 million years ago were uncovered in a trove in Ethiopia. These findings suggest that an ancient knapping workshop could have been present.
Handaxes: the First Great Invention of Humanity
According to Cosmos Magazine, knapping refers to the technique for creating handaxes. Such tools are oftentimes referred to as the first great invention of humanity.
Handaxes are created by scraping off stone pieces in order to come up with a sharpened edge. They were not linked to any handles. Instead, they were fully held in one's hand. Handaxes have a unique pear or teardrop form.
Cosmos Magazine reports that the records of the first handaxes date back to over 1.5 million years ago. They were spotted in the Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Such tools are perceived to have spread across South Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa around half a million years ago. They still persisted until around 40,000 years ago.
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Knapping Workshop for Making Axes
A team of researchers was able to uncover a knapping workshop for obsidian axes at an archaeological site in Ethiopia. Their study was included in the Nature Ecology & Evolution publication.
According to IFL science, this discovery serves as an early representative example of the shaping of obsidian. The researchers also note that this workshop is the only one that has been dated all the way back to early Pleistocene times.
The researchers note that sites that are labeled knapping workshops have only been recorded in the second part of the Middle Pleistocene. Moreover, so far, they have only been documented in Europe.
Aside from this, in a general sense, obsidian has been intensively used since the Middle Stone Age.
However, as they proceeded with the excavations, the researchers were able to uncover a prehistoric sediment layer that held 578 tools. All except three were made with obsidian. The researchers revealed through statistical methodologies that the activity was quite focused and that it was some sort of workshop.
The researchers note how remarkable the standardization of the tools' morphology is. They also express that the creators of the tools diligently added retouches and granted remarkable attention to the artifacts' final regularization.
Being able to come up with such a kind of homogeneity would have needed robust skills and great dexterity. This is especially true since obsidian is quite fragile and should be knapped with more finesse compared to basalt or flint.
IFL Science notes how obsidian-shaping techniques are thought to have emerged in the Upper Paleolithic period. Even modern-day knappers use protection to safeguard their hands as they work with the sharp material. However, while describing these tools from 1.2 million years ago, the researchers note how these standardized axes serve as evidence for repeatedly executed robust skills.
Ancient Humans Were Smarter Than Thought
Such capacities serve as a huge cognitive leap for these ancient humans. The researchers note that adapting existing knapping techniques for flint to come up with more complex tools of obsidian could be an illustration of convergent thinking. Such a type of thinking is linked to creative and innovative ways to solve a problem.
Considering this feat, the researchers note how these axe makers creatively addressed technological issues through convergent thinking.
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