A recently published article (Quartär 60 (2013) : 7-28) shows the results of an study about the possible chert sources used by human ancestors that lived in “Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quipar” ca. 0,8 – 0,9 Ma.

Quartar is scientific magazine supported by the “Hugo Obermaier Society for Ice Age and Stone Age Research”.

Winston Zack surveying the surrondings of Cueva Negra

The analysis has been taken at the “Lunar and Planetary Laboratory” of the Arizona University, in Tucson (USA). Trace-element fingerprints were analyzed by laser-ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass-spectrometry (ICP-MS).

These elements sampled evidence that most of the chert comes from less than 1 km away, namely, from a conglomerate outcrop where chert nodules could be quarried readily. It also points to a fair likelihood that some recovered chert lithics had been brought from sources up to 30 km away from the cave.

http://www.quartaer.eu/pdfs/2013/2013_walker.pdf