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GESHER BENOT YAAQOV - Humans Made Fire 790,000 Years Ago - UPDATES

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Bianca
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« on: October 30, 2008, 08:49:04 am »










                                     Humans made fire 790,000 years ago - study





 
JERUSALEM,
Oct 26, 2008
(Reuters Life!) -

A new study shows that humans had the ability to make fire nearly 790,000 years ago, a skill that helped them migrate from Africa to Europe.

By analysing flints at an archaeological site on the bank of the river Jordan, researchers at Israel's Hebrew University discovered that early civilizations had learned to light fires, a turning point that allowed them to venture into unknown lands.

A previous study of the site published in 2004 showed that man had been able to control fire -- for example transferring it by means of burning branches -- in that early time period. But researchers now say that ancient man could actually start fire, rather than relying on natural phenomena such as lightning.

That independence helped promoted migration northward, they say.

The new study, published in a recent edition of Quaternary Science Reviews, mapped 12 archaeological layers at Gesher Benot Yaaqov in northern Israel.

"The new data shows there was a continued, controlled use of fire through many civilizations and that they were not dependent on natural fires," archaeologist Nira Alperson-Afil said on Sunday.

While they did not find remnants of ancient matches or lighters, Alperson-Afil said the patterns of burned flint found in the same place throughout 12 civilizations was evidence of fire-making ability, though the methods used were unclear.

And because the site is located in the Jordan valley -- a key route between Africa and Europe -- it provides evidence of the human migration, she said.

"Once they mastered fire to protect themselves from predators and provide warmth and light, they were secure enough to move into and populate unfamiliar territory," Alperson-Afil said.




(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch;
editing by Alastair Macdonald)

© Reuters 2008. 
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Bianca
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« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2008, 08:53:19 am »










Fire out of Africa: a key to the migration of prehistoric man






nächste Meldung
27.10.2008

The ability to make fire millennia ago was likely a key factor in the migration of prehistoric hominids
from Africa into Eurasia, a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology believes on the basis of findings at the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov archaeological site in Israel.

Earlier excavations there, carried out under the direction of Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar of the Institute of Archaeology, showed that the occupants of the site – who are identified as being part of the Acheulian culture that arose in Africa about 1.6 million years ago -- had mastered fire-making ability as long as 790,000 years ago. This revelation pushed back previously accepted dates for man’s fire-making ability by a half-million years.

The Gesher Benot Ya’aqov site is located along the Dead Sea rift in the Hula Valley of northern Israel.

Dr. Nira Alperson-Afil, a member of Goren-Inbar’s team, said that further, detailed investigation of burned flint at designated areas in all eight levels of civilization found at the site now shows that “concentrations of burned flint items were found in distinct areas, interpreted as representing the remnants of ancient hearths.” This tells us, she said, that once acquired, this fire-making ability was carried on over a period of many generations. Alperson-Afil’s findings are reported in an article published in the most recent edition of Quaternary Science Reviews.

She said that other studies which have reported on the use of fire only verified the presence of burned archaeological materials, but were unable to penetrate further into the question of whether humans were “fire-makers” from the very early stages of fire-use.

“The new data from Gesher Benot Ya’akov is exceptional as it preserved evidence for fire-use throughout a very long occupational sequence. This continual, habitual, use of fire suggests that these early humans were not compelled to collect that fire from natural conflagrations, rather they were able to make fire at will," Alperson-Afil said.

The manipulation of fire by early man was clearly a turning point for man’s ancestors, Once “domesticated,” fire enabled protection from predators and provided warmth and light as well as enabling the exploitation of a new range of foods.

Said Alperson-Afil: “The powerful tool of fire-making provided ancient humans with confidence, enabling them to leave their early circumscribed surroundings and eventually populate new, unfamiliar environments.”



For further information:






Jerry Barach,

Dept. of Media Relations,
the Hebrew University,
Tel: 02-588-2904.
Orit Sulitzeanu,

Hebrew University spokesperson,
Tel: 054-8820016.




Jerry Barach | Quelle: Hebrew University



Weitere Informationen: www.huji.ac.il
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« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2008, 08:55:22 am »












Excavations at the Gesher Benot Ya'qov site.

(Credit: Photo: Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar)










                                  Fire Out Of Africa: A Key To The Migration Of Prehistoric Humans






ScienceDaily
(Oct. 28, 2008) —

The ability to make fire millennia ago was likely a key factor in the migration of prehistoric hominids from Africa
into Eurasia, a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology believes on the basis
of findings at the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov archaeological site in Israel.

Earlier excavations there, carried out under the direction of Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar of the Institute of Archaeology, showed that the occupants of the site – who are identified as being part of the Acheulian culture
that arose in Africa about 1.6 million years ago -- had mastered fire-making ability as long as 790,000 years ago. This revelation pushed back previously accepted dates for man’s fire-making ability by a half-million years.
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Bianca
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« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2008, 08:57:09 am »











The Gesher Benot Ya’aqov site is located along the Dead Sea rift in the Hula Valley of northern Israel.

Dr. Nira Alperson-Afil, a member of Goren-Inbar’s team, said that further, detailed investigation of burned flint at designated areas in all eight levels of civilization found at the site now shows that “concentrations of burned flint items were found in distinct areas, interpreted as representing the remnants of ancient hearths.” This tells us, she said, that once acquired, this fire-making ability was carried on over a period of many generations. Alperson-Afil’s findings are reported in an article published in the most recent edition of Quaternary Science Reviews.

She said that other studies which have reported on the use of fire only verified the presence of burned archaeological materials, but were unable to penetrate further into the question of whether humans were “fire-makers” from the very early stages of fire-use.

“The new data from Gesher Benot Ya’akov is exceptional as it preserved evidence for fire-use throughout a very long occupational sequence. This continual, habitual, use of fire suggests that these early humans were not compelled to collect that fire from natural conflagrations, rather they were able to make fire at will," Alperson-Afil said.

The manipulation of fire by early man was clearly a turning point for man’s ancestors, Once “domesticated,” fire enabled protection from predators and provided warmth and light as well as enabling the exploitation of a new range of foods.

Said Alperson-Afil: “The powerful tool of fire-making provided ancient humans with confidence, enabling them to leave their early circumscribed surroundings and eventually populate new, unfamiliar environments.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Adapted from materials provided by Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:
 APA



 MLA Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2008, October 28).


Fire Out Of Africa: A Key To The Migration Of Prehistoric Humans.


ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from

http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/10/081027082314.htm 
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« Reply #4 on: October 30, 2008, 09:08:15 am »













                                                      GESHER BENOT YA'AQOV






an Introduction: 


Bibliography



                                             The 1999 destruction of the site!



 The Acheulean site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (henceforth G.B.Y.) and the Benot Ya'akov Formation in which it is embedded are located in the northern sector of the Dead Sea Rift, just south of the Hula Valley.

The exposures consist of fluvial and limnic sediments which form the littoral facies of the Hula Valley basin fill





(Horowitz, 1973). The Quaternary deposits of G.B.Y. have been investigated intermittently since their discovery with in the early 1930's, with


studies of geology (Picard, 1963, 1965; Schulman, 1967, 1978 and Horowitz, 1973, 1979),

malacofaunal assemblages (Tchernov, 1973);

vertebrate paleontology (Hooijer, 1959, 1960); and

hominid remains (Geraads and Tchernov, 1983).



The lithic assemblage was described by Stekelis (1960) and Gilead (1970, 1968).
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« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2008, 09:15:55 am »












The discovery of additional and previously unknown exposures of the Benot Ya'akov Formation in the late 1980s (Goren-Inbar and Belitzky, 1989) provided a unique opportunity to systematically study and better understand the paleoenvironmental background of hominid existence in this region during the Middle Pleistocene.

Accordingly, a large-scale multidisciplinary research project has been initiated under the direction of Prof. Na'ama Goren-Inbar.

To date, seven field seasons (1989-1991, 1995, 1996, and 2 seasons in 1997) have been carried out. The work has yielded a wealth of new information particularly in light of the waterlogged nature of the site, resulting in the exceptional and unique discovery of organic remains.

Highlights of these discoveries, preliminaryresults and interpretations have been published concerned with prehistory, geology, paleontology and paleobotany of the site (Goren-Inbar and Belitzky, 1989; Goren-Inbar et al., 1991; Belitzky et al., 1991; Goren-Inbar et al,1991; Goren-Inbar, 1992; Goren-Inbar, et al., 1992a; Goren-Inbar et al., 1992; Belfer-Cohen and Goren-Inbar, 1994; Goren-Inbar et al., 1994; Goren-Inbar, 1995; Goren-Inbar and Saragusti, 1996).




Viviparus apamea -
The typical Mollusc of the
Benot Ya'aqov formation
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« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2008, 09:18:42 am »



BASALT HAND AXE






                                                                             

BASALT CLEAVER






Archaeologically, the study of extremely rich assemblages of stone tools have given rise to a better understanding of the abilities of early hominids.

Complex technology was identified by the presence of sophisticated technologies - the presence of both Kombewa and Levallois techniques; the latter being its earliest manifestation in the Levant.

Also encountered were patterned modes of raw material selection for the modification of specific technological/typological items.

Because these complex industrial techniques can be shown to have developed earlier in Africa our evidence
is suggestive of hominid radiation from Africa to temperate Eurasia.
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« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2008, 09:27:20 am »













A butchered elephant skull found in association with wooden log and basalt artifacts and their interpretation

(on exhibition at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem).




The G.B.Y. results, combined with the data from nearby but earlier Ubeidiya, indicate that this radiation took the form of waves of groups issuing out of Africa, each with distinctly different technologies.

The excavations also revealed a unique collection of botanical remains, unknown elsewhere in the Middle East. These include wood, bark, fruits and seeds. Among the more spectacular finds are the oldest polished wood artifact in the world, hundreds of identifiable pieces of wood, the earliest ever reported vine plant including well preserved raisins, as well as the earliest olive (wood and pits). These finds will make it possible to carry out paleoenvironmental reconstruction at a level of detail hitherto impossible to attain.



http://archaeology.huji.ac.il/GBY/english.htm
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