CROPfm Forum

Forscherinnen und Forscher haben die wahrscheinlich ältesten bisher bekannten Steinwerkzeuge gefunden – in einer Art „Fleischhauerei“ in Kenia, in der anscheinend schon vor rund drei Millionen Jahren Tiere wie die frühen Vorfahren von Flusspferden zerlegt wurden. Wer die Werkzeuge benutzt und erschaffen hat, gibt aber noch Rätsel auf.

https://science.orf.at/stories/3217604

The oldest Oldowan tool sites, from around 2.6 million years ago, have previously been confined to Ethiopia’s Afar Triangle. We describe sites at Nyayanga, Kenya, dated to 3.032 to 2.581 million years ago and expand this distribution by over 1300 kilometers. Furthermore, we found two hippopotamid butchery sites associated with mosaic vegetation and a C4 grazer–dominated fauna. Tool flaking proficiency was comparable with that of younger Oldowan assemblages, but pounding activities were more common. Tool use-wear and bone damage indicate plant and animal tissue processing. Paranthropus sp. teeth, the first from southwestern Kenya, possessed carbon isotopic values indicative of a diet rich in C4 foods. We argue that the earliest Oldowan was more widespread than previously known, used to process diverse foods including megafauna, and associated with Paranthropus from its onset.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo7452

Stone Age discovery in Kenya fuels mystery of who made the earliest tools

This adds to the evidence that our direct relatives in the Homo lineage may not have been the only tech-savvy creatures during the Stone Age, said study author Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program. “Those teeth open up an amazing whodunit — a real question of, well, who were these earliest toolmakers?” Potts said.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/stone-age-discovery-in-kenya-fuels-mystery-of-who-made-the-earliest-tools