Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A recent study has unveiled a remarkable collection of 27 fossilized bones, crafted into hand tools by human ancestors approximately 1.5 million years ago. This discovery represents the earliest substantial assemblage of bone tools ever found, suggesting that systematic production began a million years earlier than previously believed by archaeologists.
A groundbreaking study involving researchers from UCL and the CSIC- Spanish National Research Council has unveiled a fascinating discovery: the oldest collection of mass-produced prehistoric bone tools. This finding strongly suggests that our human ancestors possessed advanced abstract reasoning skills a full million years earlier than previously believed.
Credit: UCL
Hominins, early human ancestors capable of walking upright, had been crafting stone tools for at least a million years. However, evidence of widespread bone toolmaking was scarce before about 500,000 years ago. The newly discovered bone tools were shaped using techniques similar to stone toolmaking—specifically through ‘knapping,’ where small flakes are chipped away to create sharp edges.
This transfer of techniques from stone to bone indicates that these hominins possessed an advanced understanding of toolmaking and could adapt their methods to different materials—a significant intellectual advancement. Such findings suggest that human ancestors during this period may have had more developed cognitive skills and brain capabilities than previously assumed by scientists.
“The tools show evidence that their creators carefully worked the bones, chipping off flakes to create useful shapes. We were excited to find these bone tools from such an early timeframe. It means that human ancestors were capable of transferring skills from stone to bone, a level of complex cognition that we haven’t seen elsewhere for another million years,” Dr. Renata F. Peters at the University College London and co-author of the study said.
Lead author Dr Ignacio de la Torre of the CSIC-Spanish National Research Council added: “This discovery leads us to assume that early 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 potential artifacts.
“At the same time, this expansion of technological potential indicates advances in the cognitive abilities and mental structures of these hominins, who knew how to incorporate technical innovations by adapting their knowledge of stone work to the manipulation of bone remains.”
The tools were discovered in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, a site famous for its significant archaeological findings that shed light on human origins. Researchers uncovered 27 bones shaped into tools at this location, primarily from large mammals like elephants and hippos. These tools are exclusively crafted from the animals’ limb bones due to their density and strength.
These artifacts date back to a prehistoric era when early hominin cultures were experiencing one of their initial technological shifts. The earliest stone tools belong to the “Oldowan” age, spanning approximately 2.7 million to 1.5 million years ago, characterized by a simple technique of chipping flakes off a stone core with a hammerstone.
The bone tools discussed in this study originate from the period when ancient human ancestors transitioned into the “Acheulean” age, which began around 1.7 million years ago. Acheulean technology is distinguished by more sophisticated handaxes shaped through knapping—a process allowing for standardized tool production. The discovery of these bone tools indicates that advanced techniques were applied to bones as well, an adaptation not previously observed until much later in the Acheulean period.
Before this discovery, bone tools had only been found sporadically and rarely in isolated instances within the fossil record without evidence suggesting systematic production by human ancestors.
The precise purpose of the tools remains uncertain, but their shape, size, and sharp edges suggest they were likely used for processing animal carcasses for food. The specific human ancestor responsible for crafting these tools is also unknown, as no hominin remains were found with the bone artifacts. However, it is established that Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei inhabited the region during that period.
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This unexpected discovery has led researchers to encourage archaeologists to revisit bone findings globally to ensure that no evidence of bone tool use has been overlooked.
The study was published in the journal Nature
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
