Title |
The Earliest Matches
|
---|---|
Published in |
PLOS ONE, August 2012
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0042213 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Naama Goren-Inbar, Michael Freikman, Yosef Garfinkel, Nigel A. Goring-Morris, Leore Grosman |
Abstract |
Cylindrical objects made usually of fired clay but sometimes of stone were found at the Yarmukian Pottery Neolithic sites of Sha'ar HaGolan and Munhata (first half of the 8(th) millennium BP) in the Jordan Valley. Similar objects have been reported from other Near Eastern Pottery Neolithic sites. Most scholars have interpreted them as cultic objects in the shape of phalli, while others have referred to them in more general terms as "clay pestles," "clay rods," and "cylindrical clay objects." Re-examination of these artifacts leads us to present a new interpretation of their function and to suggest a reconstruction of their technology and mode of use. We suggest that these objects were components of fire drills and consider them the earliest evidence of a complex technology of fire ignition, which incorporates the cylindrical objects in the role of matches. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 3 | 30% |
United Kingdom | 3 | 30% |
Ireland | 1 | 10% |
Sweden | 1 | 10% |
Germany | 1 | 10% |
Unknown | 1 | 10% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 9 | 90% |
Scientists | 1 | 10% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 46 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 9 | 20% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 9 | 20% |
Professor | 8 | 17% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 3 | 7% |
Researcher | 3 | 7% |
Other | 7 | 15% |
Unknown | 7 | 15% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Arts and Humanities | 26 | 57% |
Social Sciences | 7 | 15% |
Environmental Science | 1 | 2% |
Earth and Planetary Sciences | 1 | 2% |
Physics and Astronomy | 1 | 2% |
Other | 0 | 0% |
Unknown | 10 | 22% |