1.5 million-year-old bone tools crafted by human ancestors in Tanzania are oldest of their kind

[Allan]

Breaking news that's 1.5 million years in the making. This resets our understanding of when humans cooperatively used tools.

The tools, made from hippo and elephant leg bones, were discovered at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and are a million years older than any previously found shaped bone tools.


The hominins who created these tools "knew how to incorporate technical innovations by adapting their knowledge of stone work to the manipulation of bone remains," study first author Ignacio de la Torre, a paleolithic archaeologist at the Centre for Human and Social Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council, said in a statement. The finding indicates "advances in the cognitive abilities and mental structures of these hominins."

1.5 million year old tool set​

1.5 million-year-old bone tools crafted by human ancestors in Tanzania are oldest of their kind

The discovery of 1.5 million-year-old bone tools upends what we know about tool manufacturing in East Africa.

www.livescience.com

 

[gman]

Life was so much simpler back then. From stone and bone tools and weapons to nuclear annihilation.

 

[Allan]

Life was so much simpler back then. From stone and bone tools and weapons to nuclear annihilation.

Simpler until that one mosquito bite.

 

[Rexedgar]

Boy, those Vikings sure got around!