BY CNRS (scitechdaily.com)
Scientists have discovered 1.5-million-year-old standardized bone tools in Tanzania, pushing back the timeline of early hominin technology by over a million years.
The discovery of 1.5-million-year-old bone tools in Tanzania shows that early human ancestors had advanced cognitive abilities and were systematically crafting tools from bone much earlier than previously thought. This breakthrough pushes back the known timeline of complex toolmaking and abstract reasoning by nearly a million years.
Twenty-seven standardized bone tools dating back more than 1.5 million years were recently discovered in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. This groundbreaking find was made by a team of scientists from the CNRS and l’Université de Bordeaux, in collaboration with international and Tanzanian researchers.
The discovery significantly alters current understandings of early hominin technological development. Until now, the oldest known standardized bone tools were dated to approximately 500,000 years ago. These newly discovered tools push that timeline back by more than a million years.
Evidence of Sophisticated Tool-Making
During the excavations, researchers identified tools that had been shaped on-site using bones from hippopotamuses. These tools were found in the same geological layer, indicating they were made and used during the same time period.
Even more remarkably, the team found elephant bones that had been transported to the site. These were likely brought in either as ready-made tools or as raw material for tool production. This behavior points to early planning abilities and the transmission of technical knowledge among these ancient hominin groups.
The findings were made possible through a multidisciplinary approach that combined traditional archaeological excavations with experimental archaeology. This allowed researchers to better understand how the tools were made and used, and to place the discovery within a broader evolutionary and cultural context.
Reference: “Systematic bone tool production at 1.5 million years ago” by Ignacio de la Torre, Luc Doyon, Alfonso Benito-Calvo, Rafael Mora, Ipyana Mwakyoma, Jackson K. Njau, Renata F. Peters, Angeliki Theodoropoulou and Francesco d’Errico, 5 March 2025, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08652-5
(Contributed by Gwyllm Llwydd)