Howdy OTR
On those Javelins they were found in peat
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_19447778
Wooden artifacts are extremely rare, but wooden artifacts of this age, and hunting weapons at that, are nothing short of astonishing. The hunting tools, the oldest wooden weapons in existence, owe their perfect preservation to an airtight layer of peat covering the sediments in which the spears were found. Along with the spears, Thieme found a shorter weapon, which may have been used to stab game at close range; the butchered remains of more than ten horses; stone tools; and burned sediments that may mark the remains of several fireplaces.
On Coke bottles, glass is like a rock, virtually indestructible, I think your teacher was understating its survivalibility. We use to use Pepsi bottles to mark test pits and other filled in excavations as we knew that marker would tell all other future archaeologists "disturbed in the 20th century" and it would survive as long as pottery.
Soft materials can survive under water for a long time
http://www.nbbd.com/godo/history/windover/
I suspect we'll find more cities/cultures around the subcontinent and Med.
At sea if covered by sand they (wood) can survive for at least 25,000 years (based on timber survival). Depends on when we find really old wood on the bottom of the sea!
On those Javelins they were found in peat
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_19447778
Wooden artifacts are extremely rare, but wooden artifacts of this age, and hunting weapons at that, are nothing short of astonishing. The hunting tools, the oldest wooden weapons in existence, owe their perfect preservation to an airtight layer of peat covering the sediments in which the spears were found. Along with the spears, Thieme found a shorter weapon, which may have been used to stab game at close range; the butchered remains of more than ten horses; stone tools; and burned sediments that may mark the remains of several fireplaces.
On Coke bottles, glass is like a rock, virtually indestructible, I think your teacher was understating its survivalibility. We use to use Pepsi bottles to mark test pits and other filled in excavations as we knew that marker would tell all other future archaeologists "disturbed in the 20th century" and it would survive as long as pottery.
Soft materials can survive under water for a long time
http://www.nbbd.com/godo/history/windover/
I suspect we'll find more cities/cultures around the subcontinent and Med.
At sea if covered by sand they (wood) can survive for at least 25,000 years (based on timber survival). Depends on when we find really old wood on the bottom of the sea!