Oldest Stone Tools Discovered in Africa

Thousands of stone tools found in Gona, Ethiopia are causing scientists to reconsider the origins of tool-making in human ancestors. The Gona tools consist of rounded stones and sharp-edged flakes that were most likely used for cracking nuts of digging up tubers. Using two types of dating techniques, scientists estimate the tools to be more than 2.5 million years old. These tools are 200,000 years older than any other tools that have been unearthed. In addition, they are similar to tools that were made 1 million years later, indicating that earlier tools were not necessarily more primitive than later tools. Lastly, no fossils were found with the tools, and there is some question as to who them. Some say they were made by the earliest representatives of the genus Homo. However, others do not rule out the possibility that smaller-brained relatives, such as the australopithecines, constructed the tools.

"Origin of Tools Puzzles Discoverers," The New York Times, January 23, 1997

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