Oldowan flake with hippopotamus shoulder bone (IMAGE)
Caption
An Oldowan flake that was found alongside a hippopotamus shoulder bone at a hippo butchery site excavated in Nyayanga.
Durable and versatile tools like this one were crafted from special stone materials collected up to eight miles away, according to new research led by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Queens College. Their findings, published Aug. 15 in the journal Science Advances, push back the earliest known evidence of ancient humans transporting resources over long distances by some 600,000 years.
The identity of the toolmakers remains elusive. At the oldest hippo butchery site, the team discovered a molar tooth from a hominin in the genus Paranthropus, a group that sported strong skulls and teeth to grind tough material. Another Paranthropus tooth was found nearby on the surface of the same geological bed. The existence of Paranthropus teeth alongside Oldowan stone tools hints that these hominins may have used stone tools like their close evolutionary relatives in the genus Homo. However, the case is far from closed, according to the researchers.
Credit
T.W. Plummer, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project
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