- Title: Aboriginal Australians had an axe to grind
- Date: 25th May 2016
- Summary: AXE ON COMPUTER SCREEN HISCOCK TAKING AXE PARTICLE FROM UNDER MICROSCOPE
- Embargoed: 9th June 2016 12:38
- Keywords: axe oldest axe Aboriginal Aborigine archaeology
- Location: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
- City: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
- Country: Australia
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA0024JAZVIZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Tiny remains of the world's oldest axe are giving scientists unique insight into the innovation and adaptation to their environment of Stone Age settlers in Western Australia.
The thumbnail-sized fragment of tool, made of basalt rock, was discovered by archaeologists in the northwest Kimberley region of Western Australia almost two decades ago. It was only in 2014 that attention was given to the tiny artefact, found in a remote rock shelter known as Carpenter's Gap.
Archaeologists believe the axe fragment, polished smooth on one end, was part of a blade that would have been attached to a handle between 45,000 and 49,000 years ago.
Professor Sue O'Connor, of the Australian National University, whose team excavated the stone piece in the 1990s, believes it signifies that early Aboriginal settlements may not have been as elementary as first thought.
Professor Peter Hiscock, of the University of Sydney, who led the post-2014 analysis, agrees.
"The thing that is very clear is that as people have migrated out of Africa and adapted to all the different landscapes that they went to is that they've constantly had to invent new ways of making a living, new ways of engaging with each other. And so, it's creativity that is the common thread that underpins the success of humanity and colonizing the globe and this is an example of that capacity to innovate as need demands in the right context," he said.
Hiscock explained to Reuters why he believed the axe had a handle.
"Axes, modern or ancient are a percussive tool," he said. "You swing them and you hit them hard and the ground edge on this specimen prevents it from breaking. So the ground edge is distinctive of that kind of hard percussive use. Handles are typically found on these kinds of ground edge specimens throughout the historic period. We haven't found the entire axe, we've only got the edge, so we don't have the bit that would have had the handle on it, but our inference is that there was most likely a handle as part of this tool," he said.
Archaeologists believe that the fragment may have broken off the axe as its edge was being re-sharpened.
In an effort to show that the axe was man-made, Hiscock's team spent many hours grinding onto sandstone a piece of basalt, taken from the same location where the axe was found, to achieve the same smoothness.
"We're really lucky in that the fragment we have comes from the edge of the axe, so it has the two polished edges coming together to form the working edge and so that's very distinctive. The polish is the result of vast amounts of labour and it cannot be reproduced naturally, so the axe fragment is very distinctive," he said.
Using radio carbon analysis, Hiscock deduced that the axe is 49,000 years old by analysing a fragment of charcoal, buried from the same time and at the same level in the earth.
The findings were published this month in the journal Australian Archaeology. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Video restrictions: parts of this video may require additional clearances. Please see ‘Business Notes’ for more information.