New York – Scientists have identified the oldest known evidence of Humans who make tools of the whale bone.
The bones, designed in narrow projectiles for hunting, had been discovered in excavations It goes back more than a century in the Bay of Vizcaya, near Spain and France. The scientists imagined the The tools were quite oldBut many were small fragments, so it was difficult to determine their age.
Technological advances in the last decade have now allowed the oldest tools of about 20,000 years ago. The scientists discovered that the bones came from blue whales, fins, sperm and other species.
“Humans and whales have clearly found each other for a long time,” said Vicki Szabo of the Western Carolina University, who studies the history of the whale and did not participate in the last investigations.
Scientists think that ancient humans were developing whale bones instruments in places such as the Arctic Pacific and the South. There has been solid evidence of whale tools that date back to 5,000 years ago, but the new research published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications goes back the timeline.
Ancient humans did not necessarily hunt whales, said study author Jean-Marc Petillon of the National Scientific Research Center of France. Most likely, they were eliminating the bodies of the whales stranded and designing their dense and heavy bones in tools to hunt reindeer or bison.
The tools indicate that old people in the area took advantage of resources near the sea for survival. They probably also collected sea shells and fish. Finding such evidence has been difficult since the increase in sea level interrupted the coasts worldwide, scientists said.
“It is a more contribution to the importance of coastal environments for human groups, even in this past,” said Petillon.
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