13,000-year-old tools dug up in Colorado yard

[Grinchie]

Source: MSNBC.COM

DENVER - Landscapers were digging a hole for a fish pond in the front yard of a Boulder home last May when they heard a "chink" that didn't sound right.

Just some lost tools. Some 13,000-year-old lost tools.

They had stumbled onto a cache of more than 83 ancient tools buried by the Clovis people — ice age hunter-gatherers who remain a puzzle to anthropologists. The home's owner, Patrick Mahaffy, thought they were only a century or two old before contacting researchers at the University of Colorado-Boulder.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29412850/

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I thought that the religious right maintains that the earth is only a few thousand years old, or is that why they are pushing Intelligent Design in order to explain this.

[SoFlaJet]

1. How can that be

when the right says the earth is only 6000 years old?

[Happyhippychick]

4. Great minds think alike! Well, we have the great minds...

[dipsydoodle]

17. That's because broadly speaking

they're fucking daft in the head.

Without wishing to change subject this is interesting in terms of age too :

Some of the oldest words in English have been identified, scientists say.
Reading University researchers claim "I", "we", "two" and "three" are among the most ancient, dating back tens of thousands of years. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7911645.stm

[Igel]

26. Gad.

Not another biologist taking his computer model and applying it to language.

The last one a few years ago caused diachronists to scratch their heads, learn the model, and then roll around on the floor laughing at the truly absurd assumptions demonstrating that the biologists involved had their heads so far up their butts that they could probably lick their own uvulas.

Sad, really.

[dbonds]

24. Satan put those there to test his gods followers.

(that is what they believe)

[Dr.Phool]

29. That's silly.

It's obvious that those are the tools that God used to build the earth!

[izquierdista]

34. If was in Boulder, after all

What I'm surprised at is Satan had time to bury the tools with all the sex and debauchery going on at CU. Jesus is known to hang out in Colorado Springs, with Focus on the Family and Ted Haggard.

[Happyhippychick]

2. How is that possible when the earth is only 6000 years old?

:sarcasm:

[SoFlaJet]

6. that IS funny

my fellow hippie

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. 13,000-year-old tools were dug up? Was this a Republican cemetery?

[Happyhippychick]

5. I thought John McCain was a 13,000 year old tool?

[pasto76]

21. THATS funny!!!

[devilgrrl]

7. Satan planted those tools!!!! Right next to the dinosaur bones he planted too!

:sarcasm:

[enlightenment]

8. Wow!

Fabulous find. Thanks for the link.

[geckosfeet]

9. Impossible. The intelligent designer did not create tools until 10,000 years ago.

[HopeHoops]

10. Dang, and I thought MINE were old!

[louis-t]

12. If they're broke, take them back to Sears.

They'll give you new ones. I kill me sometimes. :rofl:

[HopeHoops]

14. Um, only the Craftsman ones. But I've never had one of those break!

[louis-t]

18. 1975, my Dad handed me a broken screwdriver

that looked like it was from Teddy Roosevelt's tool belt. He said "take this to Sears and they'll give you a new one." I walked in , embarrassed, and said "my Dad said you'd give me a new one." The guy said "Go pick one out." I was floored.

[HopeHoops]

20. My late grandfather told a similar story - and he had used it inappropriately.

My paternal grandfather was a tool hound - mostly Craftsman. My maternal grandfather was a Ford mechanic - mostly Snap-On and Craftsman. I've got the tool collection from heaven! They're all US made high quality tools from the late 50's to early 70's. I'm still using a late 60's router!

[prostock69]

27. Too funny ! n/t

[chollybocker]

11. God is 'testing' the IDers better than ever these days.

Go get 'em, Goddie!



Edit: These must be Grog the Plumber's tools.

[vinylsolution]

13. Probably the last set of tools....

.... that was made in America.

:(

[Beam Me Up]

15. OH! I like this part:

Mahaffy wants to donate most of the tools to a museum but plans to rebury a few of them in his yard.

"These tools have been associated with these people and this land for 13,000 years," he said. "I would like some of these tools to stay where they belong."

Nice touch. Some may view it as sentimental, others as a bit of respect for ancient, sacred traditions.

[Posteritatis]

19. Okay, I kinda like that. (nt)

[Karenina]

36. +1

[RaleighNCDUer]

41. Ancient, sacred tradition of leaving your tools lying around

when you go off to get eaten by a sabre-tooth?

[eppur_se_muova]

45. Saves some excitement for future archaeologists, too!

Or perhaps future homeowners.

[dipsydoodle]

16. Did they have

Made in China printed on them ?

[KansDem]

40. No, they were old so they were etched with "Made in the USA"

...and they weren't Craftsman!

[TheCowsCameHome]

22. McCain just said they were probably his. More on this @11.

[dem mba]

42. strange, when I heard this post was about ancient tools

I thought they were talking about McCain.

[stubtoe]

23. OK, lots of funny posts about tools here, but this would be like my greatest dream!

Clovis tools, 13K years old! In one's own backyard. How cool is that?

[sarcasmo]

25. Bible thumpers, where are you to dispute this find?

[Regret My New Name]

28. They'll just say it's the liberal godless scientist lying and/or making things up

Or however it goes with them... I fully agree with them too. The only proof we need that the Earth was created 6000 years ago is faith. Just look around and see the beauty of the world. That is the proof that these tools are fake.

hehehe. Don't you just love it when people say things like that?

[aquart]

30. This is so cool.

Never find anything that good on Long Island.

[LanternWaste]

31. What I wouldn't give to...

What I wouldn't give to go back those 13,000 years and just watch them for one day. To see how far language had refined itself, to observe how they interact-- customs, rituals, etc. To watch how they hunt and cook and feast and play.

That would be the most fascinating thing in the world to do.

[xchrom]

32. recommend -- just the sheer beauty of this. nt

[Budgies Revenge]

33. that literally rocks!

We find tons of middle and late period Paleoindian artifacts and early woodland period pottery around our yard, but nothing as large and impressive as that find.

[CanonRay]

35. I should have dug in my back yard more!

[Quantess]

37. Clearly, the University researchers are either in league with Satan,

or they don't know they are being deceived by the evil one. There is no other explanation.

:crazy:

[Initech]

38. Was that Focus On The Family by any chance?

[ikri]

39. Was there a note?

A note from the builder to say he'd be round next week to finish the work?

[nichomachus]

43. What the story doesn't say

is that the tools were borrowed from a neighbor and never returned.

[toopers]

44. The DOT can stop leaning on each other now . . .