Asian handaxes inspired by meteor - claim Stone handaxes believed to be 800 000 years old have been found in China's Bose Basin by an international research team. These are some of the oldest stone tools found in Asia and have been linked to a meteorite strike in the area which created widespread fires. Researcher Rick Potts of the Smithsonian Institute Museum of Natural History says his colleagues believe that the meteorite impact cleared the heavily forested basin and exposed stone flakes ideal for tool-making. The claim is published in the March 3, 2000 issue of Science Magazine. Potts says the find debunks the theory that there was a Stone Age East West divide in which ancient Asians were less technologically adept as their counterparts in Europe or Africa. "These findings tell us that once they had the right kind of rock and the right environment, hominids of Eastern Asia had the same kind of adaptability as populations elsewhere". The style of the Bose Basin handaxes are similar to early stone age tools elsewhere in the world. Current thinking is that these ancient Chinese hominids were probably the descendents of Homo erectus which migrated out of Africa between 1,2 and 1,5 million years ago. The oldest known stone tools in the world have been found in Ethiopia and have been dated to over 2 million years. ©Copyright Prime Origins 2001 CONTACT BRETT HILTON-BARBER primeorigins.co.za is an iafrica.com Private Label site

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