This invention permitted the development of others of great importance to the history of humanity.

>>More than 120,000 years ago, humans living in what is now Israel were collecting shells and threading them onto pieces of string—perhaps to be worn as jewelry, according to new research.

Scientists led by Daniella Bar-Yosef Mayer, an archaeologist at Tel Aviv University, found that naturally perforated shells discovered beneath human burials in the Qafzeh Cave in northern Israel show microscopic signs of wear consistent with having been strung together, reports Ariel David for Haaretz.

The team’s findings, published this week in the journal PLOS One, narrow down the invention of string to sometime between 160,000 and 120,000 years ago.

“The timing of the invention of strings is of significance beyond the desire to adorn oneself,” says Bar-Yosef Mayer in a statement quoted by the Jerusalem Post’s Rossella Tercatin.

Developing string was crucial for subsequent innovations including “hunting traps and fishing nets, archery for hunting with arrows, fishing using hooks, and other various practices related to sailing—for example, tying logs of wood to create rafts, as well as several uses connected to clothing,” the archaeologist adds.<<

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/study-suggests-humans-invented-string-least-120000-years-ago-180975286/

How did they test that they didn’t just use, say, sinews?

dv said:

How did they test that they didn’t just use, say, sinews?

To determine the microscopic markers associated with different uses for the shells, the team conducted tests on modern clam shells, rubbing them against materials including sand, leather and wood, as well as stringing them together with wild flax cords. Abrasions and wear patterns produced by these experiments matched those found on the Qafzeh Cave shells, suggesting the latter were once hung on a string in close proximity to each other, reports CNN.

> More than 120,000 years ago, humans living in what is now Israel were collecting shells and threading them onto pieces of string.

The origin of boredom.

JudgeMental said:

dv said:

How did they test that they didn’t just use, say, sinews?

To determine the microscopic markers associated with different uses for the shells, the team conducted tests on modern clam shells, rubbing them against materials including sand, leather and wood, as well as stringing them together with wild flax cords. Abrasions and wear patterns produced by these experiments matched those found on the Qafzeh Cave shells, suggesting the latter were once hung on a string in close proximity to each other, reports CNN.

JM has a valid point;
Sinew can also be used
to string any number of things

Ogmog said:

JudgeMental said:

dv said:

How did they test that they didn’t just use, say, sinews?

To determine the microscopic markers associated with different uses for the shells, the team conducted tests on modern clam shells, rubbing them against materials including sand, leather and wood, as well as stringing them together with wild flax cords. Abrasions and wear patterns produced by these experiments matched those found on the Qafzeh Cave shells, suggesting the latter were once hung on a string in close proximity to each other, reports CNN.

JM has a valid point;
Sinew can also be used
to string any number of things

i canna take credit as it wasn’t my point but part of the article.

:-)

JudgeMental said:

Ogmog said:

JudgeMental said:

To determine the microscopic markers associated with different uses for the shells, the team conducted tests on modern clam shells, rubbing them against materials including sand, leather and wood, as well as stringing them together with wild flax cords. Abrasions and wear patterns produced by these experiments matched those found on the Qafzeh Cave shells, suggesting the latter were once hung on a string in close proximity to each other, reports CNN.

JM has a valid point;
Sinew can also be used
to string any number of things

i canna take credit as it wasn’t my point but part of the article.

:-)

You’re too modest

dv said:

JudgeMental said:

Ogmog said:

JM has a valid point;
Sinew can also be used
to string any number of things

i canna take credit as it wasn’t my point but part of the article.

:-)

You’re too modest

It is one of my failings, few though they are.

JudgeMental said:

dv said:

JudgeMental said:

i canna take credit as it wasn’t my point but part of the article.

:-)

You’re too modest

It is one of my failings, few though they are.

Perhaps, like Twain, you were born modest, not all over but in patches.

String from flax would be very useful in attaching a stone tool to a timber handle. String plus resin.

“The Middle Paleolithic broadly spanned from 300,000 to 30,000 years ago”.

“This method allowed Middle Paleolithic humans correspondingly to create stone-tipped spears, which were the earliest composite tools, by hafting sharp, pointy stone flakes onto wooden shafts.”