The River Congo

Spear Fishermen

H. 17 W. 70 D. 7 inches 1993 Portfo # 48

According to a Science News article that came to N'Kele's attention, ancient bone tools dating back 80,000 years have been found that may have come from a stone-age fishing camp where early humans speared spawning giant catfish on the banks of a lake between Congo and Uganda.

Alison Brooks, archaeologist at George Washington University said the implements show tool making skills that, until now, have been credited only to Europeans who lived thousands of years later.

Steve Kuhn, a specialist in Ancient tools at the University of Arizona said the African implements came from "much earlier than any of us expected. It makes us rethink some ideas" about how early technology developed...

"When N'Kele contacted Alison Brooks at GWU she confirmed the report of ancient tools found in Congo, saying,

More recent work has confirmed these dates. ...our tools are in bone. We also have some very crude stone tools along with the bone tools -- I would say double-pointed bone implements...We...have a kind of knife or dagger-shaped pointed bone tool without barbs, and also a cylindrical double-pointed bone tool without barbs We have published a paper in the Journal of Human Evolution arguing that the transition to modern human BEHAVIOR happened in Africa before it occurred anywhere else. There are other sites with early bone tools, most importantly the site of Blombos in South Africa, which also has some very early art objects."

See: National Geographic story by Rick Gore, July 2000, SCIENCE, April 1995 Vol 268, one by Brooks et al. 548-553, and the other by Yellen, Brooks et al. 553-556 Science News

Two Women In River II

H.17 W.25 D.11 inches 1996 P#168

There are about 8000 navaigable miles of waterways in the Congo basin.

The River Congo
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Barbed points believed to be 80,000 years old reportedly found in Congo

Spear Fishermen H. 17 W. 70 D. 7 inches 1993 Portfo # 48 According to a Science News article that came to N'Kele's attention, ancient bone tools dating back 80,000 years have been found that may have come from a stone-age fishing camp where early humans speared spawning giant catfish on the banks of a lake between Congo and Uganda. Alison Brooks, archaeologist at George Washington University said the implements show tool making skills that, until now, have been credited only to Europeans who lived thousands of years later. Steve Kuhn, a specialist in Ancient tools at the University of Arizona said the African implements came from "much earlier than any of us expected. It makes us rethink some ideas" about how early technology developed...

"When N'Kele contacted Alison Brooks at GWU she confirmed the report of ancient tools found in Congo, saying, More recent work has confirmed these dates. ...our tools are in bone. We also have some very crude stone tools along with the bone tools -- I would say double-pointed bone implements...We...have a kind of knife or dagger-shaped pointed bone tool without barbs, and also a cylindrical double-pointed bone tool without barbs We have published a paper in the Journal of Human Evolution arguing that the transition to modern human BEHAVIOR happened in Africa before it occurred anywhere else. There are other sites with early bone tools, most importantly the site of Blombos in South Africa, which also has some very early art objects." See: National Geographic story by Rick Gore, July 2000, SCIENCE, April 1995 Vol 268, one by Brooks et al. 548-553, and the other by Yellen, Brooks et al. 553-556 Science News

Two Women In River II H.17 W.25 D.11 inches 1996 P#168