(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Vassil)
A prehistoric stone tool was unearthed in Israel and reportedly used to process fallow deer.
Butchering Tool Found in a Prehistoric Site in Israel
In a new study, researchers from Tel Aviv University discovered one of the earliest stone tools, about 400,000 years old, at the prehistoric site of Jaljulia and Qesem Cave in Israel. The tool called Quina scrapers had a sharp working edge shaped as scales to enable users to butcher fallow deer and its hides.
For the study, the researchers attempted to explain the evolutionary history of stone tools, concentrating on a technological shift in scrapers that occurred approximately 400,000 years ago in the Lower Paleolithic. They discovered a significant change in the human diet during this time, which was most likely brought about by a change in the fauna that was available: huge game, especially elephants, had vanished, forcing humans to hunt smaller species - primarily fallow deer, according to study author Vlad Litov of Tel Aviv University's Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures.
Processing a considerably smaller and more delicate fallow deer presents a far different task than slaughtering a huge elephant. The methodical handling of multiple fallow deer to offset the loss of a single elephant was a complex undertaking that necessitated the creation of new tools. As a result, the previously utilized basic scrapers give way to the new Quina scrapers, which have a better-shaped, sharper, and more consistent operating edge.
Since the fallow deer originated in the Samaria Mountains, Litov said they thought the prehistoric inhabitants of Qesem Cave, and Jaljulia held the mountains in high regard. It's crucial to remember that they discovered a plethora of more tools in Jaljulia, all crafted from various types of stones obtained locally. The people subsequently turned their attention to fallow deer after seeing that the elephant population was declining.
Per Litov, recognizing the deer's abundant food source, they started creating special scrapers. This is the first recorded example of a phenomenon that subsequently extended around the globe.
About 500,000 years ago, the new scrapers first appeared on a small scale at Jaljulia. A short while later, between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago, they made their considerably larger-scale appearance at Qesem Cave.
What Are Quina Scrapers?
Quina scrapers are well-known elements of the Mousterian European Middle Paleolithic. A comparable production method was found within the lithic assemblages of the Levantine Acheulo-Yabrudian (∼400-200 ka).
Quina and demi-Quina scrapers constituted a significant part of the QC hominins' lithic toolkit. Demi-Quina scrapers were more adaptable and employed in a wider range of tasks than Quina scrapers, primarily used in specialized regions to prepare animal hides.
Quina scrapers are frequently used for hide processing, which indicates the significance of this activity for the QC hominins' subsistence and may also attest to their ontological and cosmological roles.
Another study shows a pattern of selective flint extraction to make Quina and demi-Quina scrapers, even if the flint did not come from the nearby Turonian outcrops. This implies a careful, methodical approach that took into account the eventual purpose and characteristics of the flint. This pattern recurs over time, suggesting a high level of familiarity with the possible sources in the cave's vicinity and suggesting mechanisms for transmitting knowledge regarding the locations of particular flint sources, their acquisition techniques, and their preferences for exploitation.
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