Only the hardest stone survives long enough for archaeologists to find; just nine Homo sapiens sites exceed 100 000 years; the tiny sample skews our picture of early humans. We must beware of stone bias.
Stone bias creates a distorted view of deep‑time human history
Key facts
- Only the hardest materials (stone) survive long enough to be found by archaeologists.
- There are just nine accepted Homo sapiens sites older than 100 000 years.
- The sample size is too small to draw reliable conclusions about early human behavior.
Sources
Neanderthal and Early Modern Human Culture Co-existed ...scitechdaily.com
The Acheulean, one of the earliest stone tool cultures, likely persisted for tens of thousands of years longer than previously believed.
Humans May Have Occupied North America 100,000 Years Earlier ...livescience.com
Early humans may have lived on the North American continent 130,000 years ago, more than 100,000 years earlier than scientists previously ...
Ancient humans may have reached Americas 100,000 years earlier ...wbir.com
In a provocative and controversial claim, scientists say a scattering of bones and stones suggests ancestral humans reached the New World ...
A puzzling mix of artifacts raises questions about Homo sapiens ...sciencenews.org
A reexamined Chinese site points to a cultural mix of Homo sapiens with Neandertals or Denisovans.
100,000-year-old burial site in Israel sheds more light on early humanslatimes.com
Archaeologists in central Israel are excavating one of the world's oldest known burial sites, dating back 100000 years.
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