A stone artifact found on the way to work.
It looks like any other stone to the untrained eye.
But in these parts stone tools are plentiful and can be picked up pretty much anywhere, where there has been some digging done.
It is recognized by the fact that the left side, in picture, has some flakes removed to produce a sharpened edge. The right side, in picture, is still untouched with its naturally rounded corners and edges.
This type of stone artifact was manufactured from a couple of million years ago till about 100 000 years ago, so it could have been manufactured at any time during that period.
This type of tool is called a chopper, since it was generally used in a chopping motion.
This particular tool was made for use by a right handed person sits it fits very comfortably in the right hand but not so in the left.
It shows a lot of wear and so was heavily utilized before being discarded.
It could have been used in the precision grip as pictured below.
Or in the power grip pictured below.
Based on how the stone has been worn and broken it is most likely that it was held in the power grip and used as a chopper in the chopping motion indicated by the arrow below.
These tools were used for chopping wood or bone during butchering a kill.
I love the area I live and work in.
It has good rivers, good soil, good climate and good tool making material.
For these reasons the area was heavily utilized by early humans and there are plenty of signs of that every where, if one cares to learn what to look for.
Looks like..... a stone!
No seriously, kinda cool you noticed the wears and tears of it. Seems like it fits the power grip quite nicely. I'm just glad we stopped using stones as tools.
This is fascinating. Many people think that the humans who made and used stone tools were Homo sapiens, ie: less than about 200 000 years old. But the earliest dating goes back 2.5 million years ago, made by Australopithecus garhi in East Africa.
We have some pretty old tools down south too
Absolutely. It's amazing to think how carefully we take care of our "priceless" antiquities, cosseted in museums, handled with soft gloves, and here are truly ancient artifacts just lying in the veld.
Yup, in the sun and the rain... and they have done so for millions of years
Hello @gavvet.. You were right in saying that to an untrained eye 👁️, like myself, it just looks like an ordinary piece of stone. You must posses a lot of knowledge about the surroundings of your area and hence you were able to distinguish & pick this relic out of the ordinary ones... 👍👍👍✌️
No, just have worked with a lot of them, after a while they begin to jump out at you because they look out of place
Couldn't have agreed more with you on this. Experience is something that can't be bought on Amazon.com.... 😛
One needs to put in the hard labour to gain it. And I am sure you would agree with me on that, with your personal experience (or at least I assume so 😀)...
Nice, I used to find a lot more artifacts like this when I lived in rural Texas, not so much anymore now that in Southern California. My Dad loves this type of thing and we used to spend time hunting for then together.
It's great fun hunting for and finding artifacts, some of my kids enjoyed it more than others.
Hey @gavvet
I find many artifacts in my country India too
Here people don't want to know about their past and history but there's a lot to learn here.
I see these artifacts in himayalan wildlife.
Steem on !
What an interesting tool, I would never have guessed. However< Africa is the cradle of mankind and who knows how many of those are still lying beneath the earth. Thank you for sharing
I have a few tonnes, that I have picked up in the area... and those are just the nice ones
You really have much of these. maybe send a picture of your collection. They are real nice... it al started with this tools and now we have steemit and crypto..lol
With time...
Very interesting find and breakdown @Gavvet! South Africa is so rich in history and artifacts. I should look down more haha!
you should!
Great post, I love the old stuff. That time without crypto, internet.. That was a hell of a time if you compare it with now. Doesn't mean it was worse.
@gavvet It's look like from in ancient period
It's amazing what we can find around us. There's so much stuff in the ground. I'll follow you because I love this kind of discovery. Thank you for sharing this with us.