Advanced tools dating back 3 million years have been discovered near Lake Victoria, Africa. What confounds scientists is that these are not products of Homo sapiens or any other species previously classified as human.
According to Science Alert, the discovery comes from a site that began excavation in 2016 in the Nyayanga area along the shore of Lake Victoria in Kenya, featuring designs similar to Oldowan tools – the earliest stone tools made by human hands.
The term “humans” here does not refer to us, Homo sapiens, but rather to other sibling species within the genus Homo, which are believed to have diverged from the world of archaic apes to become more advanced beings.
Area where shocking stone tools were found – (Photo: SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE)
Analyses indicate that these tools were created between 2.6 and 3 million years ago, totaling 330 pieces, discovered among 1,776 fossilized animal bones showing signs of butchering.
This dating predates the previously excavated oldest Oldowan tools, which are about 2.6 million years old.
However, according to a research team led by paleontologist Rick Potts from the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (USA), these tools suggest that Oldowan technology may not belong to humans.
Tools after being excavated and restored – (Photo: SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE).
They include tools capable of easily crushing the jaws of elephants as well as the sharp jaws of lions. Other tools were effective for skinning meat from bones, extracting bone marrow, and even for grinding plant materials.
This technology spread throughout Africa around 2 million years ago. With this find predating 2 million years, the discovery of the Nyayanga site has expanded the geographical range of this technology as far as 1,300 km southwest, after many years of being found only in the Afar Triangle of Ethiopia.
The most shocking discovery from Nyayanga is that for the first time, they found what may belong to the owner of the toolset – two molars, one intact and one broken in half.
The analysis to determine which species from the genus Homo they belonged to yielded surprising results: It was the hominin Paranthropus, a distant relative of humans, not a member of the genus Homo. Carbon isotope analysis of the tooth enamel indicated that this “individual” likely consumed food processed with these stone tools.
The genus Paranthropus also belongs to the hominin clade but is not considered “human,” rather a form of australopith that has completely gone extinct; while the genus Homo still has one surviving species, us, Homo sapiens.
The research team concluded that Oldowan tools are often attributed to the genus Homo, but the overlapping existence of other hominins like Paranthropus, along with the two teeth as evidence, suggests that humans were not the only ones skilled in making stone tools, which helped them consume a wider variety of food.
Scientists are still analyzing additional specimens and other materials from this unique site to provide more specific conclusions. “The discovery of Paranthropus alongside these stone tools will open up an intriguing mystery,” Dr. Potts stated.
The preliminary research has just been published in the scientific journal Science.
