Brainy humans were making tools from BONES a million years earlier than we thought after ancient DIY trove discovered
OUR ancient ancestors were churning out bone tools 1.5 million years ago – a million years earlier than we thought.
Dozens of tools belonging to the handy lot have been found, rewriting the history of humanity.
CSIC - LABORATORIO DE ARQUEOLOGÍA DEL PLEISTOCENOThis bone tool found in Tanzania was made from an elephant’s humerus[/caption]
A treasure trove of bone tools were foundCSIC
They were found in the Olduvai Gorge in East AfricaCSIC
They were discovered in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.
It’s a steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley, and contains evidence of very early human occupation.
Until now, the standardised bone tools we’d found only dated back 500,000 years.
But the new discovery show that early hominins were “systematically” producing bone tools long before.
It included a tool shaped out of an elephant humerus. Elephant bones were brought to the site either as tools themselves, or as materials for making more tools.
And scientists also found tools shaped on-site from hippopotamus bones.
Eastern Africa is where some of the earliest evidence of tool use by the first Genus Homo ancestors have been found.
That includes the Oldowan culture, which is responsible for stone artefacts found at the Olduvai Gorge.
This culture is believed to have lived between 2.6 and 1.5 million years ago.
And they’re known for producing stone sharp flakes, which were made by striking two rocks against each other.
This technological revolution then led to a new culture called the Acheuleans.
They lasted from 1.7 million years ago up until 150,000 years ago.
The group is well-known for their hand axes and “almond-shaped” stone artefacts, which would’ve required “remarkable technical ability”.
“Prior to our discovery, the technological transition from the Oldowan to the Acheulean was limited to the study of stone tools,” said Ignacio de La Torre, of the CSIC Instituto de Historia.
CSICThe bone tools revealed how humans were using animals for more than just food[/caption]
Natural History MuseumThe Olodwan culture is well-known for making tools in East Africa[/caption]
The bone tools rewrite history, pushing the creation of standardised bone tools back by a million yearsCSIC
Early humans saw the animals they lived with on the African savannahs as a hazard or competitors.
Scientists believe humans were “preys to cats and large birds”.
And humans would have to compete with hyenas and vultures to access carcasses.
Humans would also obtain protein from the bone marrow of prey leftovers that were abandoned by carnivores.
The Olduvai Gorge has some of the earliest evidence of tools created by our distant ancestors
CSICThe tools were created from the bones of animals in Africa[/caption]
CSICSome of the bones were brought to the site as materials for making tools[/caption]
A timeline of life on Earth
The history of the planet in years...
4.6 billion years ago – the origin of Earth
3.8 billion years ago – first life appears on Earth
2.1 billion years ago – lifeforms made up of multiple cells evolve
1.5 billion years ago – eukaryotes, which are cells that contain a nucleus inside of their membranes, emerge
550 million years ago – first arthropods evolve
530 million years ago – first fish appear
470 million years ago – first land plants appear
380 million years ago – forests emerge on Earth
370 million years ago – first amphibians emerge from the water onto land
320 million years ago – earliest reptiles evolve
230 million years ago – dinosaurs evolve
200 million years ago – mammals appear
150 million years ago – earliest birds evolve
130 million years ago – first flowering plants
100 million years ago – earliest bees
55 million years ago – hares and rabbits appear
30 million years ago – first cats evolve
20 million years ago – great apes evolve
7 million years ago –first human ancestors appear
2 million years ago – Homo erectus appears
300,000 years ago – Homo sapiens evolves
50,000 years ago – Eurasia and Oceania colonised
40,000 years ago – Neandethal extinction
CSICAs many as 27 bone tools were found at the site[/caption]
But this changed with the advent of tools.
“Our discovery indicates that, from the Acheulean period, no longer were animals only dangerous, competitors or just foodstuff,” de la Torre explained.
“But also a source of raw materials for producing tools.”
The research shows that the transition between the Oldowan and the early Acheulean was marked by East African hominins began using bone rather than just stone.
CSICOther bones were brought to the site that had already been made into tools[/caption]
“By producing technologically and morphologically standardized bone tools, early Acheulean toolmakers unravelled technological repertoires that were previously thought to have appeared routinely more than 1 million years later,” said de la Torre.
“This innovation may have had a significant impact on the complexification of behavioural repertoires among our ancestors.
“Including enhancements in cognition and mental templates, artefact curation and raw material procurement.”
The breakthrough research was published in the journal Nature.
CSICThe tools date back an impressive 1.5 million years[/caption]
CSICIt was previously believed that standardised bone tools were only being produced as recently as 500,000 years ago[/caption]
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