Archaeology
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 2-Sep-2025 02:11 ET (2-Sep-2025 06:11 GMT/UTC)
Cleveland Museum of Natural History researchers propose new hypothesis for the origin of stone tools
Cleveland Museum of Natural HistoryPeer-Reviewed Publication
Sharp stone technology chipped over three million years allowed early humans to exploit animal and plant food resources, which in turn played a large role in increasing human brain size and kick-starting a technological trajectory that continues to this day. But how did the production of stone tools – called ‘knapping’ – start? Three Cleveland Museum of Natural History researchers have proposed a new hypothesis for the origin of stone technology in human evolution. Associate Curator and the Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz Endowed Chair of Human Origins Dr. Emma Finestone and Museum research associates Drs. Michelle R. Bebber and Metin I. Eren (both also professors at Kent State University) led a team of 24 scientists to publish the new hypothesis in the journal Archaeometry.
- Journal
- Archaeometry
- Funder
- Kent State University
First burials: Neanderthal and Homo sapiens interactions in the Mid-Middle Palaeolithic Levant
The Hebrew University of JerusalemPeer-Reviewed Publication
The first-ever published research on Tinshemet Cave reveals that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in the mid-Middle Paleolithic Levant not only coexisted but actively interacted, sharing technology, lifestyles, and burial customs. These interactions fostered cultural exchange, social complexity, and behavioral innovations, such as formal burial practices and the symbolic use of ochre for decoration. The findings suggest that human connections, rather than isolation, were key drivers of technological and cultural advancements, highlighting the Levant as a crucial crossroads in early human history.
- Journal
- Nature Human Behaviour
‘You don’t just throw them in a box.’ Archaeologists, Indigenous scholars call on museums to better care for animal remains
University of Colorado at BoulderPeer-Reviewed Publication
- Journal
- Advances in Archaeological Practice
The standardized production of bone tools by our ancestors pushed back one million years
CNRSPeer-Reviewed Publication
Twenty-seven standardised bone tools dating back more than 1.5 million years were recently discovered in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania by a team of scientists from the CNRS and l’Université de Bordeaux1, in collaboration with international and Tanzanian researchers. This discovery challenges our understanding of early hominin technological evolution, as the oldest previously known standardised bone tools date back approximately 500,000 years.2
- Journal
- Nature
New discoveries reveal systematic Production of bone tools 1.5 million years ago
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)Peer-Reviewed Publication
Bone tool production 1.5 million years ago was patterned and systematic. This is the main conclusion of the discovery made by a team led by CSIC- Spanish National Research Council at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), renowned as the Cradle of Humankind. The study, published in Nature, is a milestone in the archaeology of human origins, for prior to the discovery of this bone tool assemblage it was thought that bone technology was barely known among our earlier ancestors.
- Journal
- Nature
Prehistoric bone tool ‘factory’ hints at early development of abstract reasoning in human ancestors
University College LondonPeer-Reviewed Publication
The oldest collection of mass-produced prehistoric bone tools reveal that human ancestors were likely capable of more advanced abstract reasoning one million years earlier than thought, finds a new study involving researchers at UCL and CSIC- Spanish National Research Council.
- Journal
- Nature