This Tiny Copper Awl Is Rewriting History

Started by 11B4V, August 31, 2014, 01:07:29 AM

Previous topic - Next topic
Print
Go Down Pages1 2
User actions

11B4V

August 31, 2014, 01:07:29 AM


QuoteAwl is oldest metal object ever found in Middle East

Newser) – A small copper awl found in a woman's ancient grave in Israel is rewriting history. It's the oldest metal object ever found in the Middle East, and was probably owned by the apparently important 40-year-old woman buried with it in an extravagant Tel Tsaf grave, LiveScience reports. The awl's date has pushed back metal use in the region centuries earlier than thought, to about 5100 BC. The copper it's made of was likely brought in from 620 miles away, adds Sci-News, suggesting locals imported metal objects first before starting to create them. Archaeologists had previously estimated the region's metal use started around 4500 BC thanks to some copper artifacts and gold rings found in the southern Levant.

The awl also says quite a lot about Tel Tsaf, an important archaeological site in the Middle East since it was discovered in 1950. Located near the Jordan River, Tel Tsaf was a wealthy center of international commerce in the ancient world. It had huge silos that could store up to 30 tons of grain each, roasting ovens in communal courtyards that suggest large gatherings took place there, and many artifacts originating from elsewhere around the Mediterranean, as per the Jerusalem Post. The awl suggests people in the region also had fairly advanced technology. The archaeologist who led the dig says it "constitutes evidence of a peak of technological development among the peoples of the region and is a discovery of global importance."


http://www.livescience.com/47501-oldest-metal-object-middle-east.html


"there's a long tradition of insulting people we disagree with here, and I'll be damned if I listen to your entreaties otherwise."-OVB

"Obviously not a Berkut-commanded armored column.  They're not all brewing."- CdM

"We've reached one of our phase lines after the firefight and it smells bad—meaning it's a little bit suspicious... Could be an amb—".

Ideologue

#1
August 31, 2014, 01:37:04 AM
Bubo lives?
Kinemalogue
Current reviews: The 'Burbs (9/10); Gremlins 2: The New Batch (9/10); John Wick: Chapter 2 (9/10); A Cure For Wellness (4/10)

CountDeMoney

#2
August 31, 2014, 01:50:56 AM
Awl. :wub:

Admiral Yi

#3
August 31, 2014, 01:58:45 AM
Before is turning into a pointy head? :nerd:

Tonitrus

#4
August 31, 2014, 02:28:36 AM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on August 31, 2014, 01:50:56 AM
Awl. :wub:

Awlright now, lets not start more awlful puns.   :mad:

DontSayBanana

#5
August 31, 2014, 09:37:05 AM
Quote from: Tonitrus on August 31, 2014, 02:28:36 AM
Awlright now, lets not start more awlful puns.   :mad:

No, seriously.  You awl need to stop.
Experience bij!

Syt

#6
August 31, 2014, 10:17:01 AM
Lawl.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Barrister

#7
August 31, 2014, 10:51:56 AM
:frusty:
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

grumbler

#8
August 31, 2014, 11:25:27 AM
Well, awl be damned!
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

Syt

#9
August 31, 2014, 11:26:03 AM
I think BB is ready to mawl someone.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

grumbler

#10
August 31, 2014, 11:33:21 AM
Quote from: Syt on August 31, 2014, 11:26:03 AM
I think BB is ready to mawl someone.

If this woman murdered her offspring with her metal gadget, would the title of the story be Awl My Children? 
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

Syt

#11
August 31, 2014, 11:35:06 AM
RAWLFL
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Syt

#12
August 31, 2014, 12:30:11 PM
Quote from: grumbler on August 31, 2014, 11:33:21 AM
Quote from: Syt on August 31, 2014, 11:26:03 AM
I think BB is ready to mawl someone.

If this woman murdered her offspring with her metal gadget, would the title of the story be Awl My Children?

On the plus side, her ex won't have to pay awlimony anymore.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

DontSayBanana

#13
August 31, 2014, 12:44:32 PM
What an awl-inspiring discovery.
Experience bij!

sbr

#14
August 31, 2014, 01:32:23 PM
Quote from: Barrister on August 31, 2014, 10:51:56 AM
:frusty:

Don't get awl worked up over a few bad puns.
Print
Go Up Pages1 2
User actions