Scientists finally know why ancient humans preserved these mysterious stone balls

Over the years, excavators have discovered various artifacts that ancient humans used in their daily lives. For nearly two million years, ancient humans made hand-sized ball stones, but researchers were unsure of their use.

But after so many years, according to a new study, scientists know that ancient people used them as tools to obtain the nutritional marrow of animal bones. In simple words, if the bones are imagined as soup cans, then these round tools were used as can openers.

The ancient tool to extract bone marrow

For decades, archaeologists wonder how ancient humans used these round stone balls. But finally, they have found the answer as the lead investigator for the new study Ella Assaf, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Archeology and Cultures of the Ancient Near East at Tel Aviv University in Israel, has revealed that “Our study provided evidence, for the first time, regarding the function of these enigmatically shaped stone balls that were produced by humans for almost 2 million years. “

Excavators have found these stone balls in some ancient sites in the world, such as Africa, Europe, and Asia. But archaeologists had no idea about its use, Assaf told Live Science. However, it was revealed that when the team of researchers led by Assaf found 30 stone balls in the Qesem cave in Israel, where ancient humans lived 400,000 to 200,000 years ago, they began their quest to understand the use of these artifacts.

Among these 30 stone balls, 29 of them were made of limestone or dolomite rock. According to Assaf, other tools found on the same site were innovative for their time, while stone balls represent very old technology. Furthermore, the principal investigator said that his presence in the cave of Israel represents “his last and last appearance in the Levant [the lands immediately east of the Mediterranean]”

Solving the mystery of the ancient stone balls

It should be noted that to understand the use of these stone balls, Emanuela Cristiani, an archaeologist at the Sapienza University in Rome and a principal investigator together with her colleagues examined the stone balls microscopically through which they found wear marks and organic residues. This finding indicated that the stone balls were used by the ancient inhabitants of the Qesem cave in Israel, to break animal bones and extract the nutritional marrow.

The international team of researchers carried out two experiments to confirm the idea behind the creation of said tool. First, they used cobblestones, naturally rounded stones larger than pebbles, to break bones, and in the second experiment, they used tools to shape their own stone balls, and then tested them on animal bones. Later, they understood that shaped stone tools were much more efficient than natural ones at breaking animal bones and obtaining bone marrow. Finally, a microscopic analysis gave a conclusive result.

Assaf said: “These tools provide a comfortable grip, do not tend to break easily, and you can rotate and use them repeatedly as they have multiple ridges. These tall ridges help break the bone in a ‘clean’ way, and you can remove the marrow with relative ease. “

During the experiment, scientists noted that breaking the bones caused marks on modern replicas that were similar to archaeological footprints on ancient stone balls that confirmed that “Our preliminary assumption that these items were used to extract bone marrow,” he said. Assaf.