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Apologies if this question is out of ignorance. But with a stone tool made out of something such as granite, isn't it correct that the only requirement is that
by lumost 3y ago
Apologies if this question is out of ignorance. But with a stone tool made out of something such as granite, isn't it correct that the only requirement is that the tool is not unduly compressed/crushed for it to survive 10s of thousands to millions of years?
Metal tools need to avoid oxidation as well which doesn't seem tractable over timelines greater than a few thousand years.
- wolverine876 3y agoGood questions. I don't happen to know, but don't metals survive in the earth - whence they are mined - for essentially eternity?
- dbingham 3y agoMetal ores are usually oxidized versions of the metal that need to be refined in someway. In other words, the metal in the Earth has already rusted.
- throwup238 3y ago> But with a stone tool made out of something such as granite, isn't it correct that the only requirement is that the tool is not unduly compressed/crushed for it to survive 10s of thousands to millions of years? Stone tools were made mostly from flint due to the way it cleaves with sharp edges. Granite and other stone tools weren't used until the neolithic as ground stones. In order to survive for that long, stone tools mostly just had to avoid moving water. Anything that fell into a river or ocean would be worn away quickly (like beach glass). Unfortunately, until the end of the last glacial period (~12,000 years ago), the sea level was much lower than it is today and most human habitation has long since been flooded by the melting glaciers. Underwater archaeology is a new field that's growing in importance but it's slow going and the ocean is much more dynamic that dry land.
- credit_guy 3y agoIron rusts, but bronze is much more corrosion resistant. For example this photo from the wikipedia article for Bronze Age [1] shows a bronze statue from Egypt that is about 3500 years old and is virtually corrosion free. You can find numerous similar other photos like this one, quite a few in the same wiki article. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age#/media/File:Thutmose_III_sphinx_E10897-Louvre_042005_06.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age#/media/File:Thutmos...
- lumost 3y agoIsn't egypt somewhat of an outlier on this topic as there are numerous dry sites? I can't imagine that a bronze tool would survive if made in a wet climate such as East Asia, Northern Europe, or most South American sites.
- credit_guy 3y agoHere's a large number of bronze ax heads from Germany from the Bronze Age, all virtually corrosion free. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze#/media/File:ALB_-_Hortfund_Gro%C3%9F_Gaglow.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze#/media/File:ALB_-_Hortf...