Archaeology: Oldest-known stone tools predate Homo *IMAGES* (N&V)
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Nature
Embargo
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London: Wednesday 20 May 2015 18:00 (BST)
New York: Wednesday 20 May 2015 13:00 (EDT)
Tokyo: Thursday 21 May 2015 02:00 (JST)
Sydney: Thursday 21 May 2015 03:00 (AEST)
Stone tools dated to 3.3 million years ago, discovered in Kenya, indicate that hominins were
making tools much earlier than previously thought. The artefacts, described in this week’s
Nature, predate the known origins of Homo (the genus that included modern humans),
although it remains to be determined what hominin species made them.
Stone-tool culture associated with Homo has been dated back to around 2.6 million years ago
according to evidence from Ethiopia where artefacts have been found near remains of one of
the earliest Homo fossils, Homo habilis — ‘the handy man’; this culture is described as
Oldowan. New tools, unearthed from the Lomekwi 3 site next to Lake Turkana in Kenya,
predate the Oldowan tools by around 700,000 years, Sonia Harmand and colleagues report.
The collection includes anvils, hammer stones, worked cobbles and cores (for making sharp
edges used for cutting). These artefacts are more primitive than Oldowan tools, but the
authors suggest that the makers of the Lomekwi tools had a strong grip and good motor
control, providing potential insights into the cognitive capabilities of the early relatives of
humans.
The shapes and markings on the tools indicate that tools were used vigorously to pound items
or produce sharp flakes. The arm and hand motions required for these actions were probably
more similar to those used by chimpanzees and other primates to crack nuts rather than the
actions employed by the Oldowan cultures when using their tools, the authors propose.
Article and author details
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3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya
Corresponding Author
Sonia Harmand
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States
Email: sonia.harmand@stonybrook.edu, Tel: +1 631 632 5806
News & Views Author
Erella Hovers
Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Email: hovers@mail.huji.ac.il
DOI
10.1038/nature14464
Online paper*
http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature14464
* Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo
ends).
Geographical listings of authors
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France
, Kenya
& United States
IMAGES
Image 1
Caption: Tool unearthed at excavation site.
Credit: MPK-WTAP
Image 2
Caption: Tool in situ unearthed at excavation site.
Credit: MPK-WTAP
Image 3
Caption: Authors Sonia Harmand and Jason Lewis examining stone tools.
Credit: MPK-WTAP
Image 4
Caption: Author Sonia Harmand examining stone tool.
Credit: MPK-WTAP
Image 5
Caption: View of the excavation site.
Credit: MPK-WTAP