Stone Age Weapons-Making Technology Discovered in Armenia

Thousands of tools from the Paleolithic era have been discovered from a site in Armenia.

The latest discovery gives scientists a better insight into how technological developments evolved and spread in the world. The research teams which included scientists from across the world and a team from Royal Holloway, University of London believe that they have unearthed evidence that the ancient technique of Levallois which is used for making hunting weapons was actually invented in Africa and later spread across the world. Details of the study were published in the journal Science.

The Paleolithic era is a period of human history which is characterized by the development of primitive stone tools which was developed for hunting. The period covers a major portion of human pre historic technology.

The levallois technique is type of stone knapping which was developed by the ancestors of modern humans for making hunting tools. It is a more sophisticated method for making hunting tools. Levallois technique has been named after the discovery of flint tools in the French province of Levallois-Perret

The evidence of the theory that these tools originated in Africa and spread to other parts is available at a site in Armenia. The archaeologist believes that the technology was a part of these Armenian communities which thrived 325,000 to 335,000 years ago.

“The discovery of thousands of stone artefacts preserved at this unique site provides a major new insight into how Stone Age tools developed during a period of profound human behavioural and biological change,” researcher Simon Blockley, from the Royal Holloway geography department of the University of London, said.

Together with fellow researcher Alison MacLeod and an international team from across the United States and Europe, Blockley analysed volcanic material from the site around Nor Geghi, in the Kotayk province of Armenia.