April
10
/ 2025
An archaeological discovery in war-torn Ukraine is making history—literally. It is pushing back the date when humans first started using a highly valued material by nearly 300,000 years, once again showing that human ingenuity is not bounded by time. For millions of years, early humans shaped and carved bones into tools. When it comes to ivory, the material has long been associated with symbolic artifacts and tools in the archaeological record as well. Until recently, however, the oldest known ivory modification was thought to date back approximately 120,000 years. However, a groundbreaking study by Dr. Vadim Stepanchuk and Dr. Oleksandr O. Naumenko, published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, has significantly extended that timeline. Their analysis of artifacts from the
