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Homo Habilis No Longer Considered First to Create Stone Tools
Scientists have found stone tools dating back to about 2.9 million years ago. These are some of the oldest such finds ever encountered. Their makers may not have belonged to the genus Homo, but were only closely related to it.
The shores of Kenya’s Lake Victoria were an excellent place to live several million years ago. The lake provided drinking water and gave protection from animals. And it also facilitated hunting for those that came to the watering hole.
Not surprisingly, it is in the vicinity of lakes and rivers that scientists are discovering the oldest traces left by the first primate people and their relatives. The latest issue of the prestigious scientific journal Science has published an article that describes the latest remarkable find of its kind. An international team of scientists has made a significant discovery at the Nyayanga site in western Kenya, unearthing some of the most ancient stone tools ever found.
They belong to the so-called Olduvai culture. The find is dated to about 2.9 million years old. In addition to the tools, archaeologists also discovered hippopotamus bones and molar teeth belonging to a paranthrope. This is a primate classified as an australopithecine, a relative of our ancestors in the genus Homo.
