Old Factory?

[Minimalist]

http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/004553.html

The inhabitants were part of the Acheulo-Yabrudian cultural complex which was restricted to the area now known as Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Little is known of these tool makers, who were an earlt forerunner to Homo Sapiens and only a few teeth have so far been discovered. But this discovery has pushed back the boundaries of modern man's existence in the area to over 200,000 years.

I wonder if they had a union?

[Cognito]

I'm not sure about a Union, but their lithic processing site reads like Calico. Unfortunately:

Israel 200kya = archaeological site
California 200kya = sharp rocks

[Minimalist]

Everybody KNOWS there are no hand axes in North America!

[Digit]

Which probably accounts for the shortage of teeth there as well Min!

Roy.

[kbs2244]

I always take these real old dates with a lot of salt.

Everybody wants to be first.
"We have found the oldest XXXXX!"

There is a lot of headline grabbing, with the resulting funding, going on.

[Barracuda]

Of course, it could not have been HN. Becasue everyone knows that cavemen are not smart enough to do that

[Minimalist]

Yeah..."Everyone" is a smart dude.

[Minimalist]

Much more on the Tool Factory.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 111610.htm

Archaeology has long associated advanced blade production with the Upper Palaeolithic period, about 30,000-40,000 years ago, linked with the emergence of Homo Sapiens and cultural features such as cave art. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University have uncovered evidence which shows that "modern" blade production was also an element of Amudian industry during the late Lower Paleolithic period, 200,000-400,000 years ago as part of the Acheulo-Yabrudian cultural complex, a geographically limited group of hominins who lived in modern-day Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.