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posted by LaminatorX on Wednesday December 31 2014, @02:06PM   Printer-friendly
from the prosperous-Bosporous dept.

Found this article on ScienceDaily:

Scientists have discovered the oldest recorded stone tool ever to be found in Turkey, revealing that humans passed through the gateway from Asia to Europe much earlier than previously thought, approximately 1.2 million years ago.

According to research published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews, the chance find of a humanly-worked quartzite flake, in ancient deposits of the river Gediz, in western Turkey, provides a major new insight into when and how early humans dispersed out of Africa and Asia.

Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London, together with an international team from the UK, Turkey and the Netherlands, used high-precision equipment to date the deposits of the ancient river meander, giving the first accurate timeframe for when humans occupied the area.

Professor Danielle Schreve, from the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway, said: "This discovery is critical for establishing the timing and route of early human dispersal into Europe. Our research suggests that the flake is the earliest securely-dated artefact from Turkey ever recorded and was dropped on the floodplain by an early hominin well over a million years ago."

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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday December 31 2014, @02:40PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 31 2014, @02:40PM (#130526)

    Here's a typical conversation 1.2 million years ago.

    "Yo Ug, you sold me a quartzite iSpear that gets really bad reception when I'm checking out the hotties on CaveBook, WTF bro?"

    "Sorry bro but theres nothing wrong with your new iSpear, its just that you're holding it wrong, I know homo sapiens won't exist for another 0.9 million years but sometimes keeping up with the future has costs ya know."

    "F this shite I'm buying an android" and he tosses his iSpear into the river.

    Meanwhile 1.2 million years later, an archeologist named Indiana Jones spending quality time with his shovel, fedora, and bullwhip, finds ...

    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday December 31 2014, @02:47PM

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Wednesday December 31 2014, @02:47PM (#130527) Homepage

      Indiana Jones spending quality time with his shovel, fedora, and bullwhip, finds ...

      ...himself being run down by a systemd boulder! Arrghh!

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31 2014, @03:10PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31 2014, @03:10PM (#130533)

        M$ Windows found to be cause of Dinosaur extinction during BSOD event.

        • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday December 31 2014, @03:29PM

          by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 31 2014, @03:29PM (#130536)

          Good one AC, but a better analogy is the dinosaurs are more like windows phone.

          Most of them are buried underground. Landfills, shale formations, whatever.

          Everyone knows they exist (existed?) but if you go outside, you never see one in public.

          The stereotype is they're big, slow, and not too bright. Also high latency.

          They're unusually popular in TV commercials.

          Uninformed people insist on creating video footage and dioramas showing them and modern humans together, where everyone knows that in reality they never co-exist.

          The only modern humans who think they're cute are about 4 years old and thats only because of the music.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 01 2015, @12:59PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 01 2015, @12:59PM (#130764)

            Birds are dinosaurs.

      • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday January 01 2015, @01:40AM

        by isostatic (365) on Thursday January 01 2015, @01:40AM (#130673) Journal

        Melting faces is one thing, but systemd? it's not supposed to be a horror film!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31 2014, @03:43PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31 2014, @03:43PM (#130539)

    That must have been one hell of a Thanksgiving!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31 2014, @07:09PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31 2014, @07:09PM (#130594)

      Yeah, what are the chances of finding an 1.2 million year old stone tool inside a turkey? That's like finding a needle in bologna.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31 2014, @05:41PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31 2014, @05:41PM (#130572)

    How long until the Turkish media begins reporting that humans originated in Turkey, mother of all civilization? I mean, they discovered America, after all [foreignpolicy.com].

    • (Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday December 31 2014, @07:14PM

      by Arik (4543) on Wednesday December 31 2014, @07:14PM (#130596) Journal
      While that may happen, it would of course be absurd.

      The 'humans' they are talking about here are not our ancestors. They are a branch of distant cousins that died off long before modern humans arose in Africa and started retracing their steps.
      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
  • (Score: 2) by egcagrac0 on Wednesday December 31 2014, @05:48PM

    by egcagrac0 (2705) on Wednesday December 31 2014, @05:48PM (#130573)
    Million year old rock found.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Nuke on Wednesday December 31 2014, @08:50PM

    by Nuke (3162) on Wednesday December 31 2014, @08:50PM (#130619)

    One spear proves the date that humans migrated from two continents?

    Maybe this spear was tossed away by some outcast or adventurer who wandered that way.

    Perhaps in 10000 years time when more of Scott's corned beef cans are turned up near the South Pole, archeologists will conclude that we had cities there.

    • (Score: 1) by Synonymous Homonym on Thursday January 01 2015, @12:55PM

      by Synonymous Homonym (4857) on Thursday January 01 2015, @12:55PM (#130762) Homepage

      Maybe this spear was tossed away by some outcast or adventurer who wandered that way.

      Which would prove said adventurer was around in that area.
      Which would prove people where somewhere reasonably close nearby. The outcast or adventurer didn't materialize from thin air on that river.