Archaeologists discovered a Collection of bone tools in northern Tanzania that were shaped by human ancestors 1.5 million yearsmaking them the objects of this type older known for about 1 million years, according to a new study.
Researchers have discovered stone tools dating from at least 3.3 million, but before this discovery, older bone tools were found at an estimated age of 250,000 and 500,000 years.
The 27 bone fragments of limbs, most of hippos and elephants, show evidence of being sharp and shaped, probably with the help of stone pieces. Some of the bones reach almost 38 centimeters long.
The objects, which seem to have been systematically produced in the same style, were found in Olduvai’s throat in Tanzania. The place is also where archaeologists previously discovered artifacts related to some of the first stone tools created by primitive hominids, or human ancestors who walked erect.
The new findings, presented in a study published on Wednesday (5), suggest that our former human relatives applied the same techniques they used to make stone tools in specific bones they selected from large mammals.
Researchers believe that these objects are evidence that hominids have long been able to reason, or the ability to think critically identifying patterns and making connections.
“This expansion of technological potential indicates advances in the cognitive skills and mental structures of these hominids, which they knew how to incorporate technical innovations by adapting their knowledge of stone work to the manipulation of bone remains,” said the main author of the study, Dr. Ignacio de La Torre, a scientist of the National Research Council of Spain and the Codirector of the Oldavai Throat Archeology project in a statement.
Windows for human evolution
Olduvai’s throat is in eastern Africa, which houses some of the first evidence of production and use of tools among the early human ancestors. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site often referred to as the “Cradle of Humanity” and is “renowned for its incomparable contribution to our understanding of primitive human evolution,” said study co -author Jackson Njau, an associate professor at the Earth Sciences and atmosphere at the University of Indiana.
“As a native of Tanzania, I have been captivated since my high school days by the revolutionary discoveries made in the renowned Olduvai throat site in northern Tanzania,” said Njau. “The iconic work of the famous archaeologists Drs. Louis and Mary Leakey, who discovered primitive human fossils… and the world’s early human stone tools lit my fascination and fed the dreams of countless young students, including myself, who aspired to follow their steps.”
The site has a timeline that covers two million to 20,000 years ago, and researchers have discovered remains of ancient human ancestors such as Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus and prehistoric Homo sapiens, or modern humans, he said. The archaeological record also includes cultural advances and the evolution of tool manufacturing, added Njau.
During the Oldowana age, a period named by the stone artifacts found in their throat, ancient humans used utensils raised one rock against another to chip fragments, a process that resulted in a basic form. These simple tools were made between 2.7 million and 1.5 million years ago.
The hand ax emerged during a change in primitive human innovation about 1.7 million years ago in a period called the age age that lasted up to about 150,000 years ago.
Large and heavy stones, pointed almond -shaped required complex technical skill called chipping, or removal of small fragments to create sharp edges for their production, said de la Torre.
Ancient Crafts on Exhibition
The bone tools of the Olduvai throat were first spotted in 2018 during excavations made between 2015 and 2022. The researchers focused on a specific throat ravine after first finding hominid teeth on the surface during a field survey between 2010 and 2011, which helped lead with Robert Blumenschine, Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Rutgers in New Jersey.
Elephant bones resulted in the larger tools, ranging from 22 to 38 centimeters long and eight to 15 centimeters wide, while the hippo bones produced slightly lower tools, measuring 18 to 30 centimeters long and six to eight centimeters wide.
The same chipping techniques were applied to bones made exclusively of the dense and strong long skeletons of large animals.
Tools, especially made of newly collected carcass bones, shed “new light on the almost unknown world of the old bone technology of hominids,” the study’s authors said.
“Utensils show evidence that their creators carefully worked their bones, removing chips to create useful forms,” said study co -author Dr. Renata Peters, an associate professor at the University College London Institute of Archeology in a statement.
“We were excited to find these bone tools of such an old period. This means that human ancestors were able to transfer skills from stone to bone, a complex level of cognition that we have not seen elsewhere for another million years. ”
Skeletons add new evidence that old hominid crops were undergoing a technological transition for about 1.5 million years, said de la Torre.
“Before our discovery, the technological transition from Olduvaiense to Acheulense was limited to the study of stone tools,” said de la Torre. “This discovery leads us to assume that the former humans significantly expanded their technological options, which until then were limited to the production of stone tools and now allowed new raw materials to be incorporated into the repertoire of possible artifacts.”
An advanced understanding of tool manufacturing and the ability to apply it to different materials suggests that ancient human ancestors had greater cognitive skills than previously believed, the researchers said.
New mysteries arise
Previous discoveries of bone utensils occurred in cases isolated by Europe and Asia, but the 27 bones found in Olduvai Gorge seem to imply mass production, the study authors said.
While the sets of tools found later in Europe, dated 400,000 years ago, are much more refined, Olduvai Gorge objects were more effective for heavy tasks, said Njau.
Although there is no direct evidence to show how the tools were used, researchers believe that hominids employed them to wrap animal carcasses for food and to produce new utensils.
The researchers also do not know which specific human ancestor species made the tools, as no rest of hominid was found with the bones. But previous research conducted at the site suggested that Homo Erectus and the hominid species Paranthropus Boisi lived in the region.
Human ancestors were probably inspired to do bone equipment due to the abundance of carcasses of animals available in the landscape, especially during seasonal migrations, Njau said, while rocks may have been harder to find, depending on where hominids lived.
But bone tools are more scarce in the archaeological record because organic material like bone can deteriorate more easily, he said.
Dr. Briana Pobiner, PaleoAnthropologist and research scientist at the Smithsonian National History Museum of Natural History, said that the study highlights the importance that devices made from different stone materials had for our ancestors – and how these artifacts can be “essentially archaeologically invisible.” Pobiner did not participate in the study.
“The fact that there is a collection of 27 bone tools, and not just one or a few, suggests that hominids 1.5 million years ago (at least in this place) were able to successfully transfer their knowledge of how to chip rock to chipse bone,” said Pobiner.
“For me, this signals that the manufacture of utensils was becoming an increasingly important part of our ancestors’ lives. And once again, we should look at the museum collections more evidence of hominid behavior – in this case, the manufacture of bone tools – earlier than we could have expected earlier. ”
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