US EditionStudy: 2.75M-Year-Old Stone Tools Found in Kenya May Rewrite History
- David R. Braun, professor of anthropology at the George Washington University, reported continuous Oldowan tool use at the Namorotukunan archaeological site, Turkana Basin, Kenya, from 2.75 to 2.44 million years ago.
- Faced with recurring wildfires and droughts, plant fossils and isotopic records show landscapes shifted from wetlands to dry grasslands around 2.8 million years ago, and Rahab N. Kinyanjui said, `Geological evidence suggests that tool use probably helped these people survive dramatic changes in climate.`
- Archaeologists at Namorotukunan excavated 1,300 artifacts within a 46-meter sediment record, finding more than 1,200 nearly identical pieces across three horizons and using argon-argon, paleomagnetism, chemical signatures, and plant microfossils to date layers.
- The study challenges assumptions that sustained tool use began later with larger brains between 2.4 and 2.2 million years ago, as the Namorotukunan evidence forces a rethink of human-evolution narratives, authors say.
- The international team, working with the National Museums of Kenya and the Daasanach and Ileret communities, found cut-mark evidence on animal bones linking tools to meat consumption, showing diets broadened across changing landscapes.
33 Articles
33 Articles
Nearly three million years ago, in northern Kenya, a group of ancient hominids struck stones by a river. They did so with a clear purpose: to obtain sharp edges to cut meat or break bones. A study published in Nature Communications now reveals that that early technology, known as Oldowan, was not a momentary spark of ingenuity, but a surprisingly stable practice. Researchers identified stone tools dated from 2.75 to 2.44 million years, making Na…
2.75-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Unearthed in Kenya Reveal Evidence of Ancient Human Technological Innovation
New evidence is emerging in Kenya of early humans crafting stone tools for nearly 300,000 years during the Pliocene, despite extreme environmental changes like wildfires and droughts that endured during this period. A new study published in Nature Communications takes a closer look at Kenya’s Turkana Basin as the location of one of the oldest technological traditions known to science. At the country’s Namorotukunan Site, a team of researchers un…
Dnevni list Danas
The discovery shows that the use of the technology has been passed down through thousands of generations.
Oldowan Stone Tools from the Turkana Basin Analyzed - Archaeology Magazine
Chert tools with sharp fracture surfaces, Namorotukunan, Kenya WASHINGTON, D.C.—According to a statement released by George Washington University, a collection of Oldowan stone tools ranging in age from 2.75 to 2.44 million years old has been analyzed by an international team of researchers. The tools were discovered at the Namorotukunan site in Kenya’s Turkana Basin. “These finds show that by about 2.75 million years ago, hominins were already …
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