AUSTRALIA

Around the World March 1, 2011

By Samir S. Patel

In a rock shelter archaeologists discovered the world's oldest known ground-edge tool, a basalt axe from 35,000 years ago.

AUSTRALIA: Grinding the edge of a stone tool can make it sharper and last longer. In a rock shelter archaeologists discovered the world's oldest known ground-edge tool, a basalt axe from 35,000 years ago. It predates the next oldest examples by at least a few thousand years and promises new insights into the evolution of human behavior and technological advancement.

Aboriginal Animal Spotters

Read Article

Joakim Goldhahn

Digs & Discoveries July/August 2025

Ancestral Rings

Read Article

Photo: Near Map 2024, prepared by Zara Lasky-Davison, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation

A Passion for Fruit May/June 2025

Sneaking a Snack

Sydney, Australia

Read Article

Photograph by Jamie North, courtesy Hyde Park Barracks Collection, Museums of History NSW

Top 10 Discoveries of 2024 January/February 2025

Enduring Ice Age Ritual

Victoria, Australia

Read Article

Jess Shapiro/GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation

Features July/August 2026

Secrets of the Serpent

Is a Native American origin story embedded in Ohio’s colossal earthwork?

Read Article

Timothy E. Black
Features July/August 2026

Slinging Insults

Greek and Roman soldiers fired pointed barbs at their enemies

Read Article

Courtesy Michael Eisenberg
Features July/August 2026

Inside Africa’s Houses of Stone

Archaeologists are rethinking how kings shared power beyond the great capitals of medieval Zimbabwe

Read Article

Ad/AdobeStock
Features July/August 2026

Tennis, Anyone?

Discovering the origins of the peculiar racket game that swept sixteenth-century France

Read Article

© Denis Gliksman, Inrap