* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Friday, July 25, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Black Box Players presents ‘The Three Musketeers’ – CBS 19 News

    Experience the Adventure: Black Box Players Bring ‘The Three Musketeers’ to Life!

    AP Entertainment SummaryBrief at 1:51 p.m. EDT – Channel 3000

    Entertainment Highlights: Key Updates You Can’t Miss

    ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ casts Anne Hathaway’s love interest replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate – Entertainment Weekly

    Devil Wears Prada 2′ Casts New Love Interest for Anne Hathaway, Replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate

    12 ‘Late Show’ Moments Proving Stephen Colbert Can’t Be Replaced – The Mountaineer

    12 Unforgettable ‘Late Show’ Moments That Prove Stephen Colbert Is Truly One of a Kind

    Canes owner Tom Dundon’s real estate firm eyes entertainment complex near RDU – The Business Journals

    Canes Owner Tom Dundon’s Real Estate Firm Unveils Plans for Thrilling New Entertainment Complex Near RDU

    Inspired Entertainment, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:INSE) Price Is Right But Growth Is Lacking After Shares Rocket 29% – simplywall.st

    Inspired Entertainment Soars 29% but Growth Momentum Falls Short

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Behind the Screens: The Impact of Technology on Real Estate – TRREB

    Behind the Screens: How Technology is Transforming the Future of Real Estate

    Sustainserv and Palau Announce Technology Partnership to Leverage Innovative AI Platform to Advance Sustainability Reporting – Business Wire

    Sustainserv and Palau Team Up to Transform Sustainability Reporting with Breakthrough AI Technology

    Morgan Adamski Joins PwC in Newly Created Cyber, Data & Technology Risk Division – HSToday

    Morgan Adamski Leads the Charge in PwC’s Cutting-Edge Cyber, Data & Technology Risk Division

    Transformative technology, support for food entrepreneurs spotlighted – University of Hawaii System

    How Cutting-Edge Technology and Strong Support Are Revolutionizing Food Entrepreneurs’ Success

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Black Box Players presents ‘The Three Musketeers’ – CBS 19 News

    Experience the Adventure: Black Box Players Bring ‘The Three Musketeers’ to Life!

    AP Entertainment SummaryBrief at 1:51 p.m. EDT – Channel 3000

    Entertainment Highlights: Key Updates You Can’t Miss

    ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ casts Anne Hathaway’s love interest replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate – Entertainment Weekly

    Devil Wears Prada 2′ Casts New Love Interest for Anne Hathaway, Replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate

    12 ‘Late Show’ Moments Proving Stephen Colbert Can’t Be Replaced – The Mountaineer

    12 Unforgettable ‘Late Show’ Moments That Prove Stephen Colbert Is Truly One of a Kind

    Canes owner Tom Dundon’s real estate firm eyes entertainment complex near RDU – The Business Journals

    Canes Owner Tom Dundon’s Real Estate Firm Unveils Plans for Thrilling New Entertainment Complex Near RDU

    Inspired Entertainment, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:INSE) Price Is Right But Growth Is Lacking After Shares Rocket 29% – simplywall.st

    Inspired Entertainment Soars 29% but Growth Momentum Falls Short

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Behind the Screens: The Impact of Technology on Real Estate – TRREB

    Behind the Screens: How Technology is Transforming the Future of Real Estate

    Sustainserv and Palau Announce Technology Partnership to Leverage Innovative AI Platform to Advance Sustainability Reporting – Business Wire

    Sustainserv and Palau Team Up to Transform Sustainability Reporting with Breakthrough AI Technology

    Morgan Adamski Joins PwC in Newly Created Cyber, Data & Technology Risk Division – HSToday

    Morgan Adamski Leads the Charge in PwC’s Cutting-Edge Cyber, Data & Technology Risk Division

    Transformative technology, support for food entrepreneurs spotlighted – University of Hawaii System

    How Cutting-Edge Technology and Strong Support Are Revolutionizing Food Entrepreneurs’ Success

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Stone Age herders transported heavy rock tools to grind animal bones, plants and pigment

October 8, 2023
in Science
Stone Age herders transported heavy rock tools to grind animal bones, plants and pigment
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Stone Age herders transported heavy rock tools to grind animal bones, plants and pigment

Credit: Maria Guagnin, Michael Petraglia, CC BY

About 7,000 years ago, a small group of people sat around a fire, next to a small lake in what is now the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia.

We found some of the tools they left behind—and on close inspection of the tools, we discovered these Stone Age herders were busy grinding animal bones, wild plants and pigments while their meat was cooking.

Our results are published in a new paper in PLOS ONE.

Herders and artists

Our earlier research has shown that between 10,000 and 6,000 years ago much of Arabia was far wetter and greener than it is today.

Grasslands spread, and trees and shrubs grew near water sources. Lakes formed and provided water. Herders lived around these lakes and led their cattle, sheep and goats to the best pastures.

These Stone Age herders were also skilled artists. They carved thousands of images into rock surfaces on cliffs and boulders, documenting their daily lives.

The rock art shows Stone Age people hunting gazelles, wild donkeys and ibex, and it also shows their most precious possession: their cattle.

Stone Age camp sites

Archaeological sites from this period consist of collections of small fireplaces. The herders seem to have been extremely mobile, moving around the landscape with their herds, searching for pasture and water.

Stone Age herders transported heavy rock tools to grind animal bones, plants and pigment

A grinding stone reassembled from fragments appears to have had two holes for carrying with a rope or cord. Credit: Ceri Shipton, CC BY

On these routes they made small camps near lakes, returning to the same places again and again as the years passed and the seasons turned.

A few years ago, we discovered one such camp at Jebel Oraf, near the Jubbah Oasis, in the Nefud Desert of Northern Saudi Arabia.

On the shores of a small, ancient lake, we discovered 170 small fireplaces. We excavated 17 of these fireplaces and radiocarbon dating showed that most of them are between 7,200 and 6,800 years old.

What surprised us was that the small camps were full of grinding tools. Most of them had been broken into smaller pieces, and then placed on top of the fire. Some had had holes drilled into them to attach a rope to help carry them.

Although people were moving a lot, they took heavy grinding stones weighing up to three kilograms with them. It’s not clear how the grinding stones were transported—either they were carried by people or perhaps they were strapped to their cattle. Regardless, these grinding tools seem to have been very important to them.

Today the Jubbah Oasis is extremely arid and for archaeologists that means organic remains don’t survive. This made it very difficult to find out what the purpose of these grindstones was.

There are no plant remains in the archaeological sites, and animal bones only survive in small fragments. So, we turned to microscopic analysis in order to help determine the function of the grinding tools.

Stone Age herders transported heavy rock tools to grind animal bones, plants and pigment

A stone grinding tool showing microscopic traces of plant and pigment processing. Credit: Giulio Lucarini, CC BY

Microscopic traces

In experiments we find that grinding different materials, such as bone, pigment, or plants, leaves distinctive microscopic marks on the surface of the grinding tools. These marks, including striations, fractures, rounding of individual quartz grains and different types of polish, can be seen with a microscope.

We looked at the Stone Age grinding tools to identify similar traces, and from them to determine what materials were ground.

Our microscopic study showed the grindstones were used for a range of different purposes.

Some were used to process bones. We know the fires were used to cook the meat of cattle, sheep and goats, and of game such as oryx and ostrich.

We think the herders broke open animal bones to get to the marrow. Bone marrow is high in fat, and this would have helped them to get extra nutrition.

Our analysis also showed they ground plants. None of the actual plant remains have survived, so we don’t know if they ground wild plants to make simple breads, or if they pounded plant fibers to make baskets or rope.

Both would have been important for their lifestyle. They moved a lot and bread would have been easy to preserve and carry around. Baskets and rope would have been used for storage and transport and also to construct simple, transportable shelters.

The grinding tools also showed pigment was processed. Red shale, a rock found in nearby mountains, can be used like a crayon or ground into red powder and mixed into paint.

Stone Age herders transported heavy rock tools to grind animal bones, plants and pigment

Painted rock art from northern Saudi Arabia hints at the importance of pigment processing. Credit: Maria Guagnin, CC BY

Painted rock art doesn’t often survive. Over the centuries it is washed off by rain and wind.

Only one painted rock art site from the Neolithic survives near Jebel Oraf. It shows cattle with beautiful long horns.

The grinding stones are now evidence that painted art may once have been a lot more widespread.

Valuable tools

Our analysis of the grinding marks also showed the tools were often used for different materials over time. They were clearly valuable and used as much as possible.

At the end they were broken into smaller pieces. In some cases we were able to piece back together up to 12 fragments. We’re still not sure why the discarded tools were placed on the fire—perhaps they used them to cook or to dry their meat.

Grinding stones appear to have been an important tool for mobile herders 7,000 years ago. Although they would have been hard to carry, these tools allowed Stone Age herders to produce food resources and plant materials that were vital to their highly mobile lives.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.The Conversation

Citation:
Stone Age herders transported heavy rock tools to grind animal bones, plants and pigment (2023, October 7)
retrieved 7 October 2023
from https://phys.org/news/2023-10-stone-age-herders-heavy-tools.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Phys.org – https://phys.org/news/2023-10-stone-age-herders-heavy-tools.html

Tags: herdersscienceStone
Previous Post

Female animals teach each other to choose unusual males—new research

Next Post

Is planting trees to combat climate change ‘complete nonsense’?

WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

July 25, 2025
Closer look given at construction progress of delayed Laredo sports complex – KGNS

Breaking Down the Latest Developments in the Delayed Laredo Sports Complex Construction

July 25, 2025
Getting into the weeds of plans for the ecological revival of the natural areas at Franklin Park – Dorchester Reporter |

Exploring Bold Plans to Revitalize Franklin Park’s Natural Areas

July 25, 2025

Embattled ‘arsenic life’ paper retracted by journal Science 15 years after publication – Live Science

July 25, 2025
Gary Taubes: MAHA, Ultra-Processed Foods, and Bad Science – Reason Magazine

Gary Taubes Reveals the Shocking Truth About MAHA, Ultra-Processed Foods, and Deceptive Science

July 25, 2025
Behind the Design of Sun Day Red’s Osprey Lifestyle Golf Shoe – Sports Illustrated

Discover the Cutting-Edge Design Behind Sun Day Red’s Osprey Lifestyle Golf Shoe

July 25, 2025
Ether rises 2% and bitcoin inches back above $119,000: CNBC Crypto World – CNBC

Ether Rockets 2% as Bitcoin Rebounds Above $119,000

July 25, 2025
American Airlines forecasts wide range due to economic uncertainty – Reuters

American Airlines Predicts Uncertain Future Amid Economic Challenges

July 25, 2025
Texas Gulf Coast city entertains $816 million, 53-acre development – Chron

Texas Gulf Coast City Launches Thrilling $816 Million, 53-Acre Development Project

July 25, 2025
AdvaMed in Action: Digital Health in the Spotlight at The MedTech Conference 2025 – AdvaMed® – Advanced Medical Technology Association®

Digital Health Revolutionizes The MedTech Conference 2025 Spotlight

July 25, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (738)
  • Economy (761)
  • Entertainment (21,642)
  • General (16,091)
  • Health (9,799)
  • Lifestyle (769)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (763)
  • Politics (770)
  • Science (15,976)
  • Sports (21,259)
  • Technology (15,744)
  • World (744)

Recent News

WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

July 25, 2025
Closer look given at construction progress of delayed Laredo sports complex – KGNS

Breaking Down the Latest Developments in the Delayed Laredo Sports Complex Construction

July 25, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version