Researchers have found a collection of 327 stones shaped more than 2.58 million years ago - the first evidence of ancient hominids sharpening stones to create specific tools.
     The collection of 'Oldowan' tools - created by chipping off bits of stone - were found in the Afar region of north-eastern Ethiopia. The oldest previous example of an Oldowan tool was found in Gona in Ethiopia and believed to be 2.56 million years old.
     The tools were found near the oldest fossil attributed to the genus Homo, which is at an excavation site known as Bokol Dora 1. Researchers trying to find if there was a connection between the origins of our genus and the creation of systematic stone tool manufacture saw sharp-edged stone tools protruding from eroding sediments on a steep slope, which has since yielded hundreds of chipped stones.
     Hammering or 'percussive' stone tools described as 'Lomekwian' tools were made 3.3 million years ago in what is now Kenya. Like monkeys and chimpanzees, these early hominids were using tools to hammer and bash food items like nuts and shellfish. Something changed by 2.6 million years ago and our ancestors became more skilled at striking the edge of stones to make tools. The Bokol Dora 1 artefacts capture this shift, which coincided with a change in our ancestor's teeth. As they began to process food using stone tools, we start to see a reduction in the size of their teeth.
     David Braun, an archaeologist with George Washington University and the lead author on the paper says: "Given that primate species throughout the world routinely use stone hammers to forage for new resources, it seems very possible that throughout Africa many different human ancestors found new ways of using stone artefacts to extract resources from their environment. If our hypothesis is correct then we would expect to find some type of continuity in artefact form after 2.6 million years ago, but not prior to this time period. We need to find more sites."

Edited from The Independent (3 June 2019)