[Reading Science] Who Made the First Stone Axe?

Stone Tools and Teeth of Human Relative 'Paranthropus' Found at 3 Million-Year-Old Site
Paranthropus, Not Homo, May Have Been the First Tool User
"Stone Tools Appeared Before Homo, Not Unusual"
"Paranthropus Did Not Need Stone Tools," Counterargument Also Raised

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] It has been revealed that primitive humans from 3 million years ago hunted large animals like hippos using rudimentary tools as food. Additionally, excavation results suggest that ancient primates, not direct ancestors of humans, may have also made and used tools.

An archaeological excavation team from the City University of New York analyzed stone tools and animal bones estimated to be up to 3 million years old, excavated from a site on the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya, Africa, and reached this conclusion. The related paper was published on the 9th in the international journal Science. At this site, teeth of primates related to primitive humans, hundreds of stone tools, and bones of large animals such as ancient hippos were discovered together. This excavation confirmed the first direct evidence that hominins, ancestors of humans, used stone tools to hunt large animals for food.

Ancient hippopotamus bones, stone tools, and teeth of ancient primates estimated to be 3 million years old were discovered at an ancient human site near Lake Victoria in Kenya, Africa. Photo by CNN website

Hominins have been making and using various tools from stones since as early as 3.3 million years ago, according to excavation results so far. Archaeologists reached this conclusion after discovering 149 stone tools at a site near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2015 and conducting dating analysis. Following that, the known tools were the 'Oldowan stone tools,' first discovered in the 1930s in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and excavated in various parts of Asia and Africa. These were made approximately 2.5 to 2.6 million years ago. The discovery of 3-million-year-old stone tools fills the roughly 700,000-year gap between the Oldowan tools and the tools from the Lake Turkana site.

The research team began excavations at this site in 2015 and found a total of 330 artifacts, including 42 Oldowan stone tools scattered around the bones of ancient hippos. The bones of ancient hippos and other animals found at the site showed clear cut and scrape marks made by stone tools.

Dating of these stone tools and animal bones confirmed they are between approximately 2.6 and 3 million years old. This predates the oldest previously discovered Oldowan stone tools. The time when hominins began hunting and eating large animals has been pushed back by at least 600,000 years. Some tools were even found, through microscopic analysis, to have been used for pounding plant roots, suggesting that 'cooking' may have been practiced.

Notably, in 2017, during excavation at the site, teeth of Paranthropus, a relative of Homo, the ancestor of modern humans, were discovered. This raises the possibility that the stone tools found here were made and used not by Homo, previously known as the 'inventor of tools,' but by Paranthropus.

Professor Sonya Harmand of Stony Brook University in New York explained, "Considering that the emergence of the first tools predates Homo, it is not surprising that other hominin lineages of primitive humans made and used tools."

However, there are opposing views. Mohamed Sanouni, a researcher at the Spanish National Research Center on Human Evolution, argued, "Paranthropus was anatomically adapted to eating tough foods and therefore had no need to use tools," and stated, "I do not believe Paranthropus made Oldowan stone tools."