Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: June 4 (Ethiopian Informer) – A team of Ethiopian and international researchers on Tuesday disclosed the discovery of oldest stone tools in northern Ethiopia dating back some 2.6 million years.
“The newly discovered artifacts are very distinct from tools made by Chimpanzees, monkeys and earlier human ancestors,” state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported on Tuesday.
The “large stone tools from different angles” were recovered under sediments in Ethiopia’s north-eastern Afar regional state in a place called Ledi-
The newly discovered stone tools are said to be some 100,000 years older than previous evidences of systematic stone tool production and use, which dated back about 2.58 to 2.55 million years.
“We have discovered the oldest stone artifacts in Ethiopia and possibly the second oldest stone artifacts in the world,” ENA quoted Research Associate at Ledi-Geraru Project, Archaeologist David R. Braun, as saying.
“The pieces of chipped stones were made into tools by early humans 2.6 million years ago, which are 100 thousand years older than the materials discovered also in Ethiopia from Gona locality,” Braun said.
According to the researcher, even though the materials that were found are the second oldest stone artifacts found anywhere in the world, “they have very little association with anything found at 3.3 million years ago.”
“We had expected a defined and linear relationship going from 3.3 to 2.6, but in actual fact, what we found was a gap in a very different type of technology at 2.6,” he added.
The newly discovered stone tools suggest that “early humans initially made stone artifacts at 3.3, and may never made them again for another 500 thousand years ago until 2.6,” Gona argued.
He also indicated that the stone tools made around 2.6 and 3.3 million years have “no connection in terms of technology.”
The discoveries are said to have distinctive features ascribed to the Oldowan technology – a technology originally named after findings from Olduvai Goerge in Tanzania, which is the oldest-known stone tool.
The Oldowan technology dated as far back as 2.5 million years ago, these tools are a major milestone in human evolutionary history, and the earliest evidence of cultural behavior, manufactured by the Homo habilis – an ancestor of Homo sapiens.
The first direct evidence that early human ancestors used is attributed to stone tools dated back some 3.3 million years that were found in Kenya, while the newly discovered 2.6 million years flaked stones show that “human ancestors became more accurate and skilled at striking the age of stones to make tools,” it was noted.
Following the discoveries, Director-General of the Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Mulugeta Fisseha, stressed Ethiopia’s vital significance towards understanding human history.
“Ethiopia is contributing a lot to science and studies on human evolution, referring to current and previous discovery,” Fisseha said.
According to Fisseha, Ethiopian archaeologists were integrated and students participated in the project, making the five years archaeological discoveries “unique.”
“With caution, the area can serve as an attraction for the international community, including scientists in the field and could be used as an open
The historical and archeological artifacts collection on show at the Ethiopian National Museum, located at the heart of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, is ranked among the most important in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
It is also home to the most famous Lucy, a 3.2 million-year-old human ancestor of the hominid era, among others.
