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> Intriguingly, a 2013 discovery in southeast France has led to tentative suggestions that Homo sapiens may not have been the first species to have made string.
by Cyberdog 7y ago
> Intriguingly, a 2013 discovery in southeast France has led to tentative suggestions that Homo sapiens may not have been the first species to have made string. A tiny sliver of twisted fibers—just 0.028 inches long—was found in a site occupied by Neanderthals 90,000 years ago, well before sapiens arrived in Europe.
Is "0.028 inches" a typo here? How would anyone find a thread that short, and, if found, how could one tell that the thread was intentionally woven instead of just fibers lying next to each other and getting twisted together by random chance?
- Swenrekcah 7y agoSeriously, that’s only 0.7 mm. It could be the diameter?
- morelisp 7y agohttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379113003788 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02773... is apparently the relevant paper. The fiber was some remnants found on stone tools, apparently. I don't have the archaeological background to say if the claim it's not possible to twist in nature in plausible or not.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]