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I know that phys.org is probably looking at this from physics angle but I wish they had more detail on what is being discussed. Knapping [0] as in shaping tools

I know that phys.org is probably looking at this from physics angle but I wish they had more detail on what is being discussed. Knapping [0] as in shaping tools is nothing unique. "explain the flint knapping technique of "fluting" the Clovis points, which could be considered the first truly American invention." American as in North + South America [1] but it's not a universally accepted idea that the origin was there[1]. It is also more likely that the fluting was done to make it more useful for projectile use. The ones that were not fluted might have broken and hence we don't see record for it as much. Not sure if circumstantial bias is a term but we shouldn't come to drastic conclusions. "It's amazing to think that people 12,000 years ago were flaking shock absorbers and engineering stone weapons in a way that it took 21st century modern engineering to figure out," Eren said. They weren't designing shock absorbers, their design just happen to have that as a secondary function if the experiments done suggests it does. ------------------------------ [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapping [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_point

dfc 10y ago
> it's not a universally accepted idea that the origin was there. The section in the linked WP article discussing the origin of the technique does not contain any references. you seem to be familiar with the topic, do you know of any other resources for this claim? Academic articles like this make me miss my university account access.
- itchyjunk 10y ago
  Well, had to read about stone tools from about ~2 million years ago (mya) to 1 mya and the problems of trying to figure out what they signify. This one is more recent ofcourse but archaeological record jump implies there is missing information. (No fluting to suddenly a lot of fluting for example). "The vituperative debate ended only when strong evidence for a pre-Clovis settlement turned up in Chile in the late 1990s." "Clovis may no longer be the oldest American culture, but it remains the oldest American culture we know much about."[0] This article talks about how the smaller "clovis" was probably part of projectile weapon like a throwing spear as well. ----------------------------- [0] http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-clovis-point-and-the-discovery-of-americas-first-culture-3825828/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-clovis-point-and-t... [1] http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/taima-taima-text3.html http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/taima-taima-text3....
- mijoharas 10y ago
  Lots of universities (at least in the U.K.) offer journal access for their alumni, it might be worth checking with them if you can still get an account to log on. ... of course there is also SciHub...

dfc 10y ago

> it's not a universally accepted idea that the origin was there. The section in the linked WP article discussing the origin of the technique does not contain any references. you seem to be familiar with the topic, do you know of any other resources for this claim? Academic articles like this make me miss my university account access.

itchyjunk 10y ago
Well, had to read about stone tools from about ~2 million years ago (mya) to 1 mya and the problems of trying to figure out what they signify. This one is more recent ofcourse but archaeological record jump implies there is missing information. (No fluting to suddenly a lot of fluting for example). "The vituperative debate ended only when strong evidence for a pre-Clovis settlement turned up in Chile in the late 1990s." "Clovis may no longer be the oldest American culture, but it remains the oldest American culture we know much about."[0] This article talks about how the smaller "clovis" was probably part of projectile weapon like a throwing spear as well. ----------------------------- [0] http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-clovis-point-and-the-discovery-of-americas-first-culture-3825828/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-clovis-point-and-t... [1] http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/taima-taima-text3.html http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/taima-taima-text3....
mijoharas 10y ago
Lots of universities (at least in the U.K.) offer journal access for their alumni, it might be worth checking with them if you can still get an account to log on. ... of course there is also SciHub...