Artifacts from the Armenian Highlands have caused a sensation in the world of science.
Researcher from the Archeology and Ethnography Institute of Armenia Boris Gasparyan said that an Armenian-US expedition has found very interesting artifacts in the community of Nor Geghi, the Hrazdan Gorge, where they have worked since 2007. "We have found 320,000-300,000 year-old stone tools, used by Homo Erectus.
"These are Levallois-type tools. They are more innovative than those belonging to Acheulian culture. They weigh just 100-150 g while the weight of Acheulian tools ranges between 300 g and 1 kg," Gasparyan said.
Before this discovery the cradle of Stone Age innovations was Africa. "Now we see that technologies were invented and developed in different corners of the world," Gasparyan said.
Homo Erectus living in the Armenian Highlands used mostly obsidian for his tools. In order to find the stone he had to go 100-150 km to the territory of present-day Syunik.
"One more peculiarity of Nor Geghi is that we have found both Levallois and Acheulian tools there. Since there was volcanic activity in the area, volcanic ash helped us to date the tools," Gasparyan said.
Archeologists are looking forward to new discoveries in Nor Geghi as there are many more layers to review.
On Sept 26 Science published an article about the sensational discovery in Nor Geghi.