Researchers including a geologist from North Carolina State University have found tools on Crete that are supposed to be 130,000 years old. The dating was based on the rate that Crete has been rising out of the sea. The tools are said to most resemble some used in Africa 700,000 years ago.
Per the first article:
In addition, the team analyzed the layer bearing the tools and determined that the soil had been on the surface 130,000 to 190,000 years ago.
Since Crete has been an island for 5 million years the suggestion is that the users of the tools arrived on it by sea. If the dating is accurate the tools would evidence sea travel 70,000 years earlier than previously thought. The articles do not address whether the possible sea travel might have been accidental.
The findings were reported last month at a meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America. A formal report has been accepted for publication in Hesparia, the journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, a supporter of the fieldwork.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/science/16archeo.html
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/573005-cretan-tools-point-to-130...
Tags: Crete, Humans, Jubinsky, Sea, Travel
Permalink Reply by Vulpes on September 1, 2011 at 3:33pm The finding is posted in numerous places on the internet.
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_EN...
I think 130,000 year old tools were probably found on Crete and that the users arrived there by sea. However, this does not mean that the sea travel was the result of any designed technology by the users. They could have been accidentally swept to Crete while hanging on to a tree.
Permalink Reply by Vulpes on September 1, 2011 at 3:39pm I will admit a bit of ignorance here. I though that modern homo sapiens came onto the scene about 100,000 years ago. Am I wrong or are these tools from another ancestor. Like homo erectus or neantherdal man.
Anatomically modern Homo sapiens date back to between 150k and 200kya. Behaviorally modern goes back about 60k to 70kya, roughly the time of emergence from the Toba bottleneck. Boat building is considered to be behaviorally modern, and since 130kya is about 60k years to soon for that... A land bridge idea could be explanatory if only just as the last interglacial began at just about 130kya and sea levels in the Mediterranean basin may still have been low enough to accommodate passage. But... it is still 70k or so years to soon for Homo sapiens. Neanderthal on the other hand... The tools in the photos appear to be of the Mousterian Industry if they are tools at all. I sure wish there was more description of the site, the layer and perhaps other such evidentiary material. This seems to be a very preliminary finding with a lot of questions still to be resolved, hence the lack of journal publication. It did make me raise an eyebrow.

Curtis Stover Online

Sentient Biped Online

Donna Darko Online

abigail powell Online

Joshua 'flobi' Hatfield Online

Posted by matthew greenberg on May 21, 2013 at 12:18pm 1 Comment 0 Likes
i've got no problem with everyone saying "merry christmas" on christmas day. however, they've turned it into an entire holiday season where it lasts a month or more. in those situations it should be perfectly acceptable to say "happy holidays" or call it a…
ContinuePosted by Two Cult Survivor on May 21, 2013 at 11:30am 0 Comments 0 Likes
I posted the bulk of this on another thread, but wanted to add some context separately.
I finally confronted my faith and embraced the fact of my atheism late last August, 2012. Days after I revealed my "epiphany" to a few friends who knew me from another message board, my sister died from Lou Gehrig's Disease (which pissed her off because she hated catching a disease from someone she never f---ed).
THAT was my sister, understand? She was a beautiful, life-loving, potty-mouthed…
ContinuePosted by Larry Taylor on May 20, 2013 at 8:15pm 8 Comments 2 Likes
OK. I am venting. My mother died two weeks ago. She was a “god fearing christian.” Before her death she refused all medical treatment. She wanted to be left alone. She even refused to speak with my brother who is a methodist minister. He is a pip, let me tell you! I suspect she did not believe, but a woman born in her time could not and did not state her actual beliefs. This is the opening salvo to all christians; FUCK YOU! I had so many people come and tell…
ContinuePosted by Christy Stewart on May 20, 2013 at 2:17pm 6 Comments 0 Likes
This probably should not have shocked me as much as it did (especially since I am in Texas). I actually thought my coworkers were playing a joke on me because they know I am an atheist. Sadly, this was no joke. This actually happened.
I work in a psychiatric hospital. The doctors who admit patients are general MDs. (Psychiatrists see patients after admission) Yesterday evening we received several calls from irate parents. A new doctor who was doing admissions yesterday actually…
Continue© 2013 Atheist Nexus. All rights reserved. Admin: Richard Haynes.