WASHINGTON, DC – A collection of Oldowan stone tools dating from 2.75 to 2.44 million years old has been analyzed by an international team of researchers, according to a statement released by George Washington University. These tools were discovered at the Namurutokonan site in the Turkana Basin, Kenya. “These findings show that around 2.75 million years ago, hominins were already good at making sharp stone tools,” said George Washington University psychologist Ngos Baraki, indicating that the beginning of Oldowan technology is older than we thought. For about 300,000 years, the same sharp-edged tools were developed despite frequent forest fires, droughts, and environmental change from lush green areas to dry grasslands and semi-deserts, explains Rahab N. Kenanjoi of the National Museums of Kenya and the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology. This suggests that early hominins had the skills to engineer tools, constantly reproduce them, and pass that knowledge on to succeeding generations. “As vegetation changed, toolmaking remained stable,” Canenjoy said. “It’s flexibility.” Read the original scholarly article about this research Nature Communication. To read about ancient bone tools from Tanzania’s Oldovi Gorge, go to “Bone Tool Kit”.
An analysis of post-Oldowan stone tools from the Turkana Basin was first published in the Journal of Archaeology.
