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In what is quite an amazing discovery, scientists have confirmed that a bracelet found in Siberia is 40,000 years old. This makes it the oldest piece of jewelry ever discovered, and archeologists have been taken aback by the level of its sophistication.
The bracelet was discovered in a site called the Denisova Cave in Siberia, close to Russia's border with China and Mongolia. It was found next to the bones of extinct animals, such as the wooly mammoth, and other artifacts dating back 125,000 years.
The cave is named after the Denisovan people — a mysterious species of hominins from the Homo genus, who are genetically different from both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.
[...] Strangely, however, DNA evidence also suggests that, at some point, the Denisovans must have interbred with an as yet unknown and undiscovered species of humans beings.
Skeletal remains show that the Denisovans were probably far more robust and powerful than modern humans, and were, until now, assumed to be a more primitive, archaic type of humans than us.
But, the discovery of the bracelet suggests this was far from true. Amazingly, the skill involved in making this adornment shows a level of technique at least 30,000 years ahead of its time.
It is an astonishing find, having been exquisitely crafted 30,000 years before the Stone Age, which is considered to have begun 10,000 years ago. It is like discovering a 747, made a thousand years before the Wright Brothers ever flew...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Wednesday May 17 2017, @08:23PM
It is an astonishing find, having been exquisitely crafted 30,000 years before the Stone Age, which is considered to have begun 10,000 years ago. It is like discovering a 747, made a thousand years before the Wright Brothers ever flew...
The Stone Age [wikipedia.org] (or the Paleolithic Period, Paleo=old;lithic=stone) began some 2.6 million years ago.
I assume that the submitter was referring to the New Stone Age [wikipedia.org] (or the Neolithic Period, Neo=new;lithic=stone) which began circa 12,000 years ago.
The only really interesting thing is that anyone is surprised that a species five times older than Homo Sapiens might have developed certain skills and technology sooner than we did.
It's a fascinating find for sure, but it might be helpful to get both our time frames straight and tone down our homo sapiens-centric views a bit.
After all, we're still around and the Denisovans aren't. Perhaps we should give them some props.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr