Middle Palaeolithic bitumen use at Umm el Tlel around 70 000 BP

Abstract

Abstract The authors identify natural bitumen on stone implements dating to 70 000 BP. It is proposed that this represents residue from hafting, taking the practice back a further 30 000 years from the date previously noted and published in Nature . The bitumen was tracked to a source 40km away, using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and carbon isotopes.