Oldest stone tools reopen disputes over who made them

Human ancestors used some stone tools The oldest hippopotamus ever found for butchering and grinding plant material on the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya about 2.9 million years ago.

These finds at the Nyayanga site suggest that Oldowan technology is an industry stone tools The oldest known in prehistoric times, and with a certain complexity, are older and more widespread than previously thought, which reopens the debate about who made the first stone tools.

The description of this “carnage” was published in the journal Science in an article signed by researchers from the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution and Queens College of New York University, as well as the National Museums of Kenya, John Moores University in Liverpool. and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

According to a statement from the Smithsonian Institution, the paper presents what is likely the earliest examples of a major innovation, the Olduvai toolkit, as well as the earliest evidence that hominins fed on very large animals.

Excavations have unearthed a pair of huge molars belonging to Paranthropus, a close evolutionary relative of humans.

“The Fascinating Unknown”

Teeth are the oldest Paranthropus fossil found so far, and their presence in a site full of stone tools The discovery of 330 artifacts raises “intriguing questions” about which of human ancestors made them, said Rick Potts, lead author of the study.

“Researchers have long assumed that only the genus Homo, to which humans belong, is capable of creating stone tools”, – says Potts – but the discovery of paranthropus along with these tools opens up a fascinating mystery.”

In addition, these tools have been found over 800 miles from the oldest known examples. stone tools Oldowan, 2.6 million years old, discovered at Ledi Geraru (Ethiopia).

This greatly expands the area associated with the early origins of Olduvai technology, say the authors, who recall that stone tools Moreover, the Ethiopian site could not be linked to any particular function or usage, leading to speculation as to what the first use of these tools might have been.

As for the finds in Nyayang (Kenya), the scientific team demonstrates, by analyzing the wear patterns of tools and animal bones, that these stone utensils were used to process a wide range of materials and products, such as plants, meat, and even bone marrow.

The set of tools includes three types of stone tools: hammers, cores and flakes.

advance in sophistication

This represented an important step forward in improvement; they were produced systematically and were often shaped using what is known as “freehand hammering”, i.e. the core was held in one hand and then struck with a hammer held in the other hand at the correct angle to form a flake. it requires great dexterity and skill.

“With these tools, you can grind better than with elephant molars and cut better than with lion fangs,” says Potts, for whom “Olduwyense’s technology was like the sudden development of a new set of teeth outside your body and open to our ancestors. a new variety of food in the African savanna”.

In fact, there were at least three hippos at the site; two of these incomplete skeletons included bones with traces of massacre.

Thomas Plummer, another of the authors, explains that they also found antelope bones that showed evidence that hominids had cut the meat with stone flakes or crushed them with hammers to extract the marrow.

The researcher concludes that although various indications indicate an age of about 2.9 million years in stone toolsthey can be dated “more conservatively” between 2.6 and 3 million years.

(As reported by EFE)

“Espacio Vital”: Dr. Cesar Munaiko, National Director of Epidemiology, Prevention and Disease Control at the Minsa CDC, confirmed that a lion found dead at the zoo was caused by bird flu. In addition, he pointed out that eating chickens or other types of meat is safe, since infection does not occur through food consumption.

Fernando Carvallo selects information and shares his vision of national and international news. subscribe to our Las cosas newsletter, as they should be reading your daily columns.