The huge growth in the use of quartz for tools shows the sophistication of ancient communities

According to new research, the increasing use of crystalline quartz to make tools thousands of years ago shows the sophistication of ancient communities.

The mineral was chosen because of its powerful symbolism, even though it involved careful work and other materials that would have been easier to use were available to prehistoric toolmakers, say archaeologists.

Archaeologists have discovered that about 14,000 years ago, about 14,000 years ago, the number of tiny hand-made tools and hand-made crystalline quartz was less than 1 cm .

People could have used chert, which was more durable and found locally, but they may have chosen quartz crystal because it has several unique properties, including as a source of light at the moment of impact and as a source cutting edges. Communities may have opted for crystal quartz because they considered the material to be "alive" and believed they could exploit the energy of the mineral to look into the future.

The technique of building tiny crystal quartz tools would have required specific skills to be mastered. Crystalline quartz was also used in other parts of the world to make tools at that time, while other raw materials were available. The crystalline quartz is fragile and can fracture, but can give an exceptionally sharp and precise sharpness.

Archaeologists have examined two sites in Sehonghong and Ntloana Tšoana, Lesotho, about 100 km apart from one another and in very different environments. Although communities used other raw materials for tool production about 14,000 years ago, both began using quartz more and more. In some excavated layers, more than 75% of the tools were made from ore, especially those containing 18,000-year-old remains in Sehonghong. This suggests that very dispersed hunter-gatherer groups were linked and engaged with each other.

"We show that although crystalline quartz has never been the dominant raw material for the production of tools at Sehonghong or Ntloana Tsoana, the mineral shows increased frequencies after 14,000 years," explains the first author, Justin Pargeter, from Emory University. "This scheme is shared between the two sites, separated by 100 kilometers and in very different environments, suggesting that very dispersed hunter-gatherer groups were connected and engaged with each other."

Dr. Jamie Hampson of the University of Exeter, co-author of the paper, said: "Quartz is abundant in the region, but from a functional point of view, it is not the best material for make small tools, it takes more energy and more time to use this material, which can provide an extremely sharp cutting tool, but crushes well.

"We discovered that stone tools were getting smaller and smaller, that their use was surging and that they were increasingly being made from crystalline quartz instead of chert, which would have been a More easily accessible rock We can not say for sure why crystalline quartz was used, but it may have been chosen for its unique symbolic qualities, which shows that communities were more sophisticated and thoughtful than they were. had been credited before. "

Evidence from ethnographic texts and also cave paintings suggest that ancient communities – at the time and in this region and elsewhere in the world – have entered a hallucinogenic state. The luminescence caused by sparks when the crystal crystal has been touched may have been part of their rituals performed in order to enter a state of altered consciousness and to enter the spirit world.

Dr. Hampson has been examining evidence from rock paintings and engravings for 20 years, showing how they describe and embody these rituals. In some places, people put pieces of quartz in the holes and cracks in the rock faces, which many indigenous communities see as a barrier between their world and the spiritual world.