In a nutshell Stone Age humans extensively harvesting whale products 20,000 years ago — roughly 1,000 years earlier than previously known — using at least six different whale species along ...

Large projectile point made of Gray Whale bone from the Duruthy rockshelter, Landes, France, dated between 18,000 and 17,500 years ago. CREDIT: Alexandre Lefebvre. Get the Popular Science daily ...

The whale bones were fashioned into narrow projectiles for hunting, primarily as projectile points likely hafted on spear-style projectiles rather than arrows. Most objects made of whale bone are ...

The 71 whale bone artifacts analyzed by the researchers were found at 27 cave or rock shelter sites. The two oldest ones, both from the bones of fin whales, came from the Spanish Cantabrian sites ...

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. "Oldest whale bone tools discovered." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 May 2025. <www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2025 / 05 / 250527124110.htm>.

Scientists have pinpointed the oldest known evidence of humans making tools from whale bone. The bones, fashioned into narrow projectiles for hunting, had been uncovered in excavations dating back ...

Radiocarbon dating (which determines the age of organic materials) revealed that the oldest bones in the collection date back to around 19,000 to 20,000 years ago, “making it the oldest evidence ...

Excavations in 2022 in the Basque cave of Isturitz, France, where several dozen whale bone objects were discovered. CREDIT: Jean-Marc Pétillon, Christian Normand.

Scientists think that ancient humans were crafting whale bone instruments in places including the Arctic and South Pacific. There’s been solid evidence of whale bone tools dating back to about ...

Humans Humans were crafting tools from whale bones 20,000 years ago More than 60 ancient tools found in France and Spain have been identified as whale bone, and the evidence shows that people made ...