Stone Age Use of Asphaltum

Bitumen, or asphatum, is another adhesive material used by prehistoric peoples. When we read asphaltum - we think of the road covering.  I think road asphalt is a mixture of asphaltum and gravel..?  Wherever oil seeps to the surface, on land or sea - and washes up on shore, and the lighter faction evaporates, black sticky tar is left behind.  This can dry into solid masses.  This is what is gathered and heated to haft knives and projectile points, water proof and caulk, or  utilized as a decorative pigment.  The earliest known use was by the Neanderthal peoples 40,000 years ago.  Artifacts were found in Gura Cheii Cave, in Romania, and on stone tools in Syria.  Most notably in the US, the La Brea tar pits of California were used for thousands of years by the Native populations as a source of the material.  Artifacts have been found, hafted with asphaltum, originating from Texas and California.  The hard pieces are heated to soften and used as is, or further processed by mixing with charcoal or plant fibers to strengthen.  Pictured is a steatite/soapstone bowl used to melt the asphaltum, and a natural hardened chunk  from California, setting on top of the stone biface.  Also pictured is a saber tooth tiger skull replica from a skull recovered from the La Brea tar pits in California.