CDHM The Miniature Way
April 2011, Issue 15
Dollhouse Tourism, Israel
Page 74

Religious artifacts are not the only type of discovery in Israel.

Archaeologists discovered miniature stone knives - the equivalent of today's plastic disposable silverware - dating back 200,000 years in a cave site dig. Made of flint, the ancient knives are about the size and shape of a quarter, but feature two razor-sharp edges and two dull edges.

"This made them easy to hold between two fingers and safe to wield close to the mouth," says Tel-Aviv University's Ran Barkai, leader of the team that made the find.

They would have been disposable because while the original napping created an edge sharp enough to easily slice through muscle, skin and tendon, the edge wouldn't hold.

Barkai also reproduced the mini-knives himself from stones he found in the cave. His colleague Cristina Lemorini of the University of Roma-La Sapienza then tested Barkai's replicas by cutting up a sheep carcass. Adding to the scientists' conclusion that the knives were used for eating, a large