Scientists announced they have discovered the oldest human tools in Africa. According to the new study, the new discovered tools are 3.3 million years old, which precedes by several hundred thousand years the time our genus Homo entered the scene.
The stone flakes discovered are 700,000 years older than previous found oldest-known tools, scientists said. Until recently, the earliest stone tools, recognized by the scientific world, had been found on the website of Gona in Ethiopia. The tools have been dated to be 2.6 million years old.
A few years ago, researchers digging on the site of Dikika in Ethiopia announced the discovery of minimized marks on animal bones which were dated to be 3.4 million years in the past. The scientists argued that those ancient human ancestors made linear marks on the bones with specific tools, ‘Science Magazine’ wrote.
The claim was immediately disputed and became a controversial subject, while some argued that what appeared to be human made marks could have been the results of trampling by people or some domesticated animals.
At the assembly of the Paleoanthropology Society San Francisco, California, which takes place every year, archaeologist Sonia Harmand from Stony Brook University in New York said that her team discovered some very old tools near the site of Lomekwi 3, which is a few kilometers of Lake Turkana in Kenya.
”The artifacts were clearly knapped and not the result of accidental fracture of rocks, “Harmand said at the annual meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society.
Four years ago, Harmand’s team stumbled upon a former public place, referred to as Lomekwi, which is near the place where a very controversial human relative called Kenyanthropus platyops had been uncovered.
The scientists observed what Harmand cataloged as unmistakable stone tools on the floor bed of the deserted field and instantly started a small excavation.
More objects and tools have been discovered closer to the bottom, along with cores of stone from which human ancestors obtained sharp flakes by chipping.
Researchers have now discovered almost 20 greatly-preserved flakes, cores, but also anvils which were probably used to transport the cores. The flakes which have been struck off from the core was uncovered sealed in sediments that gave a safe context for their preservation.
Since then, one hundred thirty items have been discovered on the floor, researchers added.
Image Source: British Broadcasting Channel