CNRS—Twenty-seven standardized bone tools dating back more than 1.5 million years were recently discovered in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania by a team of scientists from the CNRS and l’Université de Bordeaux1, in collaboration with international and Tanzanian researchers. This discovery challenges our understanding of early hominin technological evolution, as the oldest previously known standardized bone tools date back approximately 500,000 years.2
During these excavations, the researchers identified tools shaped on-site from hippopotamus bones within the same geological layer. More surprisingly, they also found elephant bones that had been transported to the site as either tools or raw materials for tool-making. This behavior suggests an early ability for planning and the transmission of know-how among these ancient populations.
These results were obtained via an approach combining archaeological excavations and experimental archaeology.3 The study* will be published on 5 March in the journal Nature.
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Tool shaped out of an elephant’s humerus. It was discovered at site T69 in the Olduvai Gorge. Top: © d’Errico-Doyon, Bottom: © Laboratorio de Arqueología del Pleistoceno-CSIC
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Article Source: CNRS Press news release
*Systematic bone tool production at 1.5 million years ago. Ignacio de la Torre, Luc Doyon, Alfonso Benito-Calvo, Rafael Mora, Ipyana Mwakyoma Jackson K. Njau, Renata F. Peters, Angeliki Theodoropoulou & Francesco d’Errico, Nature, March 05, 2025.
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1 – Working at the From Prehistory to the Present: Culture, Environment, and Anthropology laboratory (CNRS/Ministère de la Culture/Université de Bordeaux). The project received support from the European Research Council (ERC).
2 – The study shows indisputable traces of the intentional cutting, shaping, and modification of bone edges, thereby giving them an elongated shape.
3 – Experimental archaeology involves reproducing the techniques and gestures of ancient societies to better understand the production and use of their tools, their habitats, and their everyday objects.
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