A critical step in prehistoric stone tool use may have taken place 600,000 years earlier than thought

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—Ancient Oldowan toolmakers transported raw stone materials for toolmaking roughly 600,000 years earlier than thought, a new study* suggests. The geochemical analyses of 401 artifacts from a site in Kenya indicates these early hominins sourced higher-quality stones from up to 13 kilometers away – meaning that they could strategize about land-use and remember locations of high-quality resources. Primitive stone toolmaking took hold roughly 3.3 million years ago. 700,000 years later, the practice became more refined, marking the advent of what archaeologists call the Oldowan industry. Scientists theorized that early Oldowan toolmakers relied on local resources until 2 million years ago. Now though, Emma Finestone and colleagues show that Oldowan toolmakers were transporting raw stone material from faraway at the onset of the Oldowan industry. First, the researchers examined the geochemical composition of stone artifacts from the Nyayanga site in Kenya, including Bukoban quartzite and Nyanzian rhyolite. Then, they mapped the sources of these artifacts’ raw materials and found that the stones must have come from roughly 13 kilometers away. The findings strongly suggest that Oldowan toolmakers could use mental maps, plan in advance, and judge stone quality 600,000 years earlier than believed. Notably, the Nyayanga site holds fossils of Paranthropus, an extinct genus of hominid. “Although the taxonomic identity of Nyayanga toolmakers remains unknown, the association of this [artifact] assemblage with fossils attributed to the genus Paranthropus calls into question whether the transport of core and flake technology was exclusive to genus Homo,” Finestone et al. write.

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A map of the Nyayanga archaeological locality in western Kenya and primary outcrops of Nyanzian and Bukoban rocks. A variety of rocks from the Nyanzian and Bukoban rock supergroups were used in tool manufacture. E.M Finestone, J.S. Oliver, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project

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Nyayanga amphitheater in July 2025 showing the location of excavation 3 (lower on slope) and excavation 5 (higher on slope). Tan and reddish-brown sediments are late Pliocene deposits with fossils and Oldowan tools. T.W. Plummer, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project

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Oldowan tools made from a variety of raw materials that were sourced from over 10 km away from the Nyayanga locality. E.M Finestone, J.S. Oliver, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project

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Pounding tool exc3-103 and flake exc3-104 manufactured from nonlocal raw materials, found associated with a butchered hippopotamid skeleton in excavation 3 in July 2016.  T.W. Plummer, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project

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Oldowan flake exc3-1548 in direct spatial association with hippopotamid scapula exc3-1549, found in July 2017 as part of excavation 3 hippopotamid butchery assemblage. T.W. Plummer, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project

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Article Source: AAAS news release.