The oldest stone tools in the world, dating back 3.3 million years ago and have been used by the early beings of the genus Homo, were discovered in northern Kenya, scientists revealed.
These are pieces that are about 700 thousand years older than any other tool found so far, suggesting that species such as Australopithecus afarensis or kenyanthropus would have been more sophisticated than previously thought.
The tools , who were buried on the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya’s north, “are much older than any other utensil previously found,” said Dr. Nick Taylor, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
“It’s really amazing to think at that time difference 700 thousand years. It is monumental,” emphasizes Taylor, also a professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.
The first found tool called Lomekwi 3, was discovered in 2011 when researchers took a wrong turn while walking in the heat by dry Kenyan landscape, but by the end of 2012 they had found a total of 149 vessels.
another field visit in 2014 were unearthed further, requiring researchers in an article published in the journal Nature.
Among the ancient tools sharp stone blades, drawn from larger rocks are included and probably they were used for cutting; as well as hammers and anvils, some of enormous size.
The researchers refer to a particular piece which is larger and weighs 15 kilograms, which was probably used as an anvil.
Analysis of volcanic ash and minerals around the place where the tools were found, dating suggests three thousand 300 million years ago.
Until this discovery, the oldest examples were found in Tanzania tools having a length of about 2.6 million years.
The researchers say that the huge difference in years between each other reveals how the methods of manufacture and use changed over time, becoming more advanced.
For now, scientists do not know who made the tools in Kenya, but they estimate that their owners could have been copies of the first things the genus Homo. bogus=”1″
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