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Kojiro Sasaki
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35,500-yr-old stone axe unearthed
Xinhua
A piece of stone axe found in Australia has been dated at 35,500 years old, making it the oldest of its type in the world. An international archaeological team discovered it during an excavation in Arnhem Land of the Northern Territory of Australia in May.
Dr Bruno David from the Australian Monash University, who led the team, said the find showed the Jawoyn people were the first to grind axes to sharpen its edges. The Jawoyn - a group of Indigenous Australians living in the Northern Territory - call the stone axe Gabarnmung, which means "hole in the rock", and it is covered in spectacular paintings.
"We could see with the angled light that the rock itself has all these marks on it from people having rubbed it in order to create the ground-edge axe," Dr David told ABC News on Friday. "We already knew that the oldest evidence of axes in the world were in the late 20s of thousands of years ago.
"Very soon after that we received a carbon result of 35,500 years ago for that piece." Dr David said it is an important step in the evolution of modern humans. The traditional lands of the Jawoyn people were rediscovered three years ago.
