ANTOINE LOURDEAUNine-thousand-year-old blades: mass-produced along the Uruguay RiverANTOINE LOURDEAU
Archaeologists have discovered Brazil’s first prehistoric workshop, where blades were crafted up to nine thousand years ago (Journal of Anthropological Archeology). Antoine Lourdeau, then at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) and now at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, Sirlei Hoeltz at the archaeological research company Archaeo Pesquisas Arqueológicas, and Sibeli Viana at the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás concluded that the stone blades found along the Uruguay River, at the border between the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, were mass-produced and used in tools including knives and spearheads.” This type of production has also been reported in Argentina, but from a more recent time,” says Lourdeau. He says that the same techniques were used in Europe and the Near East. “Similar solutions can appear independently at different times and in different parts of the world.”
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