From ScienceDaily:
Rich array of artifacts shows mix of techniques dating to early Upper Paleolithic
The rich array of artifacts shows a mix of techniques for making points, blades, scrapers and cutting flakes. “These toolmakers appear to have achieved a division of labor that may have been part of an emerging pattern of more organized social structures,” Stutz says.
The theory that greater social division of labor was important at this prehistoric juncture was first put forward by anthropologists Steven Kuhn and Mary Stiner.
“Our work really seems to support that idea,” Stutz says. “The finds from Mughr el-Hamamah give us a new window onto a transitional time, on the cusp of modern human cultural behaviors, bridging the Middle and Upper Paleolithic.”More.
As with the claim that the Neanderthals didn’t know how to kill rabbits (and that is one reason they died out), claims like this are most interesting but vulnerable to new discoveries.
What if an older tool shop were found? Then this one isn’t the dawn any more. It could be mid morning.
See also: What do we know about human evolution?
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