Ground Stone and Polished Tools
The Japanese Paleolithic is also unique in that it incorporates the earliest known ground stone tools and polished stone tools in the world, dated to around 30,000 BC, a technology typically associated with the beginning of the Neolithic, around 10,000 BC, in the rest of the world. It is not known why such tools were created so early in Japan, although the period is associated with a warmer climate worldwide (30,000–20,000 before present), and the islands may have particularly benefited from it.
Because of this originality, the Japanese Paleolithic period in Japan does not exactly match the traditional definition of Paleolithic based on stone technology (chipped stone tools). Japanese Paleolithic tool implements thus display Mesolithic and Neolithic traits as early as 30,000 BC.
Read more about this topic: Japanese Paleolithic
Famous quotes containing the words ground, stone, polished and/or tools:
“Even great towers start at ground level.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Heavy we are, our flesh
of stone and velvet goes down,
goes down.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“Civilization does not engross all the virtues of humanity: she has not even her full share of them. They flourish in greater abundance and attain greater strength among many barbarous people. The hospitality of the wild Arab, the courage of the North American Indian, and the faithful friendships of some of the Polynesian nations, far surpass any thing of a similar kind among the polished communities of Europe.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The study of tools as well as of books should have a place in the public schools. Tools, machinery, and the implements of the farm should be made familiar to every boy, and suitable industrial education should be furnished for every girl.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)