Transformation tools from ancient hunters was connected with climate change

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About 11 thousand years ago the inhabitants of Europe suffered global climate change.

Scientists from Ghent University said that the location of the ancient hunter-gatherer who lived in Europe in a changing climate, could become the reason of appearance of new stone tools, according to the online edition of the Chronicle.info with reference to zn.ua.

Hunter-gatherers who lived in the Mesolithic period (11-6 thousand years ago) experienced a warming of 1.5-2 degrees Celsius. This has led to changes in the environment: the sea level rise, increased droughts, animal migrations and more frequent forest fires. In the new study, scientists have studied ancient arrowheads and miniature tools (microliths) in order to understand how they are transformed in changing climate.

It turned out that the change in their shape was much more complex than previously thought. At the same time, various forms of tools could simultaneously exist in several groups of people who lived along the North sea coast. As the level of the oceans rose, the former inhabitants of the basin were forced to resettle in new areas where increased competition for resources could strengthen the location. A specific form of artifacts could be the distinctive sign of belonging to a particular culture.

In addition, the change in the shape of microliths could be the consequence of a short (one or two centuries), but abrupt climate events. Triangular microliths were the result of cold, and in a thousand years the same event was the reason for the appearance of small knives.

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