“We discovered that when we used ochre, the glue is much more robust, and the stone tool doesn’t come off the shaft,” said study team member Lyn Wadley of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

But making the glue wasn’t easy for the ancient Africans.

It was mentally taxing work that would have required humans to account for differences in the chemistry of gum harvested from different trees and in the iron content of ochre from different sites.

“They couldn’t possibly have known about chemical pH or iron content … but they knew that certain combinations of things worked very well,” Wadley said.

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Our ancestors made it by twisting together what seem to be fibres of honeysuckle, nettles, or wild clematis, and used it in their struggle for survival as the last ice age ended.

This early piece of technology, measuring about 41/2in must have been a revolutionary advance at the time, useful for binding together weapons or tools.

But in case you don’t believe me that it’s a wonderful find, here’s what British Archaeology mangazine editor Mike Pitts said about the discovery:

‘It is a fantastic find. I don’t think the average person realises what an important piece of technology string has been over the ages.’

Indeed. Link – via Scribal Terror

Archaeologists digging at Zaraysk, Russia, unearthed a trove of Stone Age figurines and carvings, including something puzzling: a cone-shaped object whose function remains a mystery:

Also among the finds was an object carved from mammoth ivory, shaped like a cone with its top removed. The cone is densely ornamented and has a hole running through its centre.

The authors note that the object is unique among Palaeolithic artefacts. "The function of this decorated object remains a puzzle," they say.

Since you guys are experts at guessing in our weekly What is it? game, let’s try this one for size: what do you think the mystery object is for?

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(Photo: Amirkhanov/Lev/Antiquity)