,,,,,
I N.k,i;1) ,Uovmmtremam
,,,,,
""\\* rt,ki
0 .1: 4 ,.. z,

:.:STOMEORKS:c.0

,

:::EWSONAMENEMORs,.

p :'

n

L'!ii121111kil

re

.

•

'1)0 44"; . i."1.19111341,!1...

Prehistoric Fires
Spark a Leap

Somewhere, back in the mists of time, a
primitive human realized how to light a
fire. Suddenly, people could cook their
food, keep warm in the cold, scare off
predators, and perhaps not least of all,
gather around a central meeting place
to enjoy one another's company after a
hard day.
Now, those fires, and the people who
sat around them, are long dead. The
only memories of them remain in
crumbling bones and tools and piles of
dirt; our ancestors and all the complex
doings of their lives have, as the saying
goes, returned to dust and ashes.
And yet, for some people, the dust
and ashes still breath. Professor Steve
Weiner, a-structural biologist at Israel's
Weizmann Institute of Science, is one
such person. In fact, he has spent the
past decade studying dust and ashes —
and in the process has made a discovery
that could move knowledge of prehis-
toric humanity several steps forward.
Weiner has discovered how to identi-
fy and analyze ancient ashes — the
most direct evidence of fire — after
they have almost entirely disintegrated.
It may seem astonishing that, with sci-
ence as advanced as it is, no-one could
do so until now And yet this was the
case: ash is largely made up of unstable
materials that react and change con-
stantly and are difficult to recognize
after even days after a fire goes out.
Archaeologists have assumed certain
sediments are ash, but until now there
has been little scientific analysis of the
composition of ash.
The discovery was made while
Weiner was working in two prehistoric
caves in northern Israel with postdoc-
toral fellow Dr. Solveig Schiegl, archae-
ologist Dr. Ofer Bar-Yosef of Harvard
University, and geologist Dr. Paul
Goldberg of Boston University. The
finding is reported in the Journal of
Archaeological Science, and has already
earned the 48-year-old South African-
born Weiner a rare honor: he is the first
Western scientist in 60 years invited to
work at China's famous Zhoukoudian
cave, home to the bones of Peking
Man, believed to be among the first
humans to use fire deliberately, some
500,00 years ago.
Weiner, who heads the Weizmann
Institute's Environmental Sciences and
Energy Research Department, admits
he made the discovery almost serendipi
tously. He had chosen the Israeli caves

FIRES

on page R36

WISHING ALL OF OUR
CUSTOMERS AND FRIENDS
PEACE, GOOD HEALTH AND
PROSPERITY IN THE NEW YEAR.

•S i. :0 M0

kientUnili

kAmAIIIMM

OPEN
SATURDAY
SALES
1 0A.M.-4P.M.

KiAPLE RD

SERVICE/PARTS/SALES
Mon. & Thurs. IN 9 p.m.

Heading South for the Miter?

To ensure uninterrupted service, please take a few moments to fill in your winter
address. The post office WILL NOT forward your paper. Please allow 2-3 weeks.

name

new address

city

state

zip code

effective date

DETROIT
JEWISH NEWS

Mailing label must be attached here.
(Include Account Number)

9/26
1997

R35