Philippa Kaur

Stone tools discovered in Kenya are the oldest Oldowan-type implements found, dating back at least 2.6 million years, and they may have been made by our relative Paranthropus

Humans

9 February 2023

By Michael Marshall
Reconstruction of Paranthropus, an early hominin whose teeth were found alongside stone tools at Nyayanga, KenyaELISABETH DAYNES/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
A set of stone tools found in Kenya is the oldest of its kind, and one of the oldest known to have been made by ancient hominins. The find adds to the evidence for widespread tool use relatively early in human evolution.
The artefacts were found with two teeth belonging to hominins called Paranthropus. They weren’t thought to make tools because their teeth were well-suited to chewing food, but the new find suggests they actually did make and use stone tools.
The finds come from Nyayanga on the north-eastern shore of Lake Victoria in Kenya. Tom Plummer at Queens College, City University of New York first learned of them more than 20 years ago, when he was working at another archaeological dig nearby. There, team member Blasto Onyango at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi mentioned a different site with similar tools. “We surveyed,” says Plummer, “we saw some material on the surface”, but it took until 2015 to begin full excavations.Advertisement
The team has since recovered 330 stone artefacts. They include the heavy cores of pebbles, used for pounding, and sharp cutting flakes that had been removed from them. The tools are a type known as Oldowan, named for Oldupai gorge in Tanzania where the first examples were found.
Based on analyses of the sediments in which the Nyayanga tools were found, and the types of fossils found with them, the team estimates they are between just over 3 million and 2.6 million years old. “We think it’s in the older end of that range,” says Plummer. This would make them the oldest Oldowan tools on record. Previously, the oldest known examples were those from Ledi-Geraru in Ethiopia, which are from 2.6 million years ago.
The Nyayanga tools were used to process a variety of foods, says Rahab Kinyanjui, also at the National Museums of Kenya. The team found bones of hippopotamus-like animals, some of which had cut marks on them, suggesting the tools were used for butchery. The heavier implements were also used to pound plant materials like tubers and fruit.
Early Oldowan stone tools from Nyayanga, KenyaT.W. Plummer, J.S. Oliver, and E. M. Finestone, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project
Finding evidence of Oldowan tool use this early in Kenya, and 1300km from Ledi-Geraru in Ethiopia, suggests stone tool use was already widespread, says Plummer. In line with this, stone tools have been found in Algeria from 2.4 million years ago.
The use of such implements is primarily associated with the Homo genus, which includes our own species Homo sapiens, as well as older ones like Homo erectus. The oldest purported Homo remains are 2.8 million years old, but none have been found at Nyayanga. The only hominin remains there so far are of Paranthropus.
Paranthropus lived alongside other hominins, including Homo, for over a million years. However, it is generally thought that they have no living descendants. Compared with other hominins from the same time, they looked less like us: in particular, they had very large teeth, perhaps for grinding up tough plant foods.
“The thing about Paranthropus is they’ve got a really specialised anatomy,” says Plummer. “They’ve got the biggest jaws and teeth of any primate that ever lived, for their weight.” He says it is unlikely that a tool-using animal would need such powerful chewing apparatus. Nevertheless, it is the only hominin found at Nyayanga so far, so he says it is worth seriously considering that Paranthropus made and used the tools.
Others are less hesitant. “People are very shy about saying that it was not Homo something, Homo habilis or whatever, making tools,” says Margherita Mussi of the Italo-Spanish Archaeological Mission at Melka Kunture and Balchit, based in Rome. She points out that several modern primates sometimes make crude stone tools, including chimpanzees and various monkeys. “So why not a Paranthropus?”

If that is true, it would fit with other evidence that species of Homo were not the only hominins that made stone tools. The oldest known stone tools of any kind, at 3.3 million years old, are from Lomekwi in Kenya. They are cruder than Oldowan versions and were made in a different way: by hitting rocks on the ground, rather than by hitting a rock held in the hand.
“We have no genus Homo at that time,” says Sonia Harmand at Stony Brook University in New York, one of the discoverers of the Lomekwi tools. “We already know that the first stone tools were probably not made by Homo.” Australopithecus species are likely candidates.
For the later Nyayanga tools, there were probably late Australopithecus, early Paranthropus and early Homo in the region. “We have to imagine it’s all these species probably sharing the same territory or the same environment at the same time,” says Harmand.
Studies like these suggest tool use goes back further than we thought, says Plummer. “We’re going to be pushing tool use further back in time,” he says. Furthermore, “tool use was more important earlier on than we realised”.
In line with this, Mussi and her colleagues showed last month that some hominins were making obsidian tools in organised “workshops” 1.2 million years ago, 500,000 years earlier than thought. “I think that we are systematically under-evaluating hominins,” says Mussi.

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New Scientist’s weekly round-up of the best books, films, TV series, games and more that you shouldn’t miss

Humans

8 February 2023

Disney
Watch
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania stars Paul Rudd (pictured above) as petty thief-turned-Avenger Scott Lang in a new Marvel movie. Set in the Quantum Realm, Lang faces Kang the Conqueror. On general release 17 February.

Read
This Won’t Hurt says Marieke Bigg, tongue firmly in cheek, as she explains how medicine fails women, from research to diagnosis and treatment. Today’s landscape, she argues, was designed for men. On sale from 16 February.

Visit
Unlocking the mysteries of the heart is a talk by Sian Harding based on her book The Exquisite Machine. … More

In Marvel’s Midnight Suns, you are in charge of a team of superheroes who fight villains but also hang out. Who wouldn’t want to go fishing with Spider-Man or play video games with Wolverine, asks Jacob Aron

Humans

8 February 2023

By Jacob Aron
Try explaining Doctor Strange’s powers in terms of science2K Games
Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Firaxis Games
PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series S/X, Nintendo Switch
WHILE we wait for a rash of new games to arrive (see my previous column), I have been mopping up a few from last year that I hadn’t yet managed to finish.
The one that has been occupying most of my time is Marvel’s Midnight Suns, which puts you in charge of a team of famous superheroes. You play as a new character … More

Wood from a burial chamber in modern Turkey reveals there was a sudden severe drought around the time Hittite cities were abandoned 3000 years ago

Humans

8 February 2023

By Clare Wilson
A burial mound in Gordion, an archaeological site in Turkey, which was the source of wood samples that gave a record of the climate centuries beforeJohn Marston
A three-year-drought may have led to the fall of the Hittite empire in the Middle East 3000 years ago.
The finding comes from analysing timber used to make the burial chamber of a later ruler, who may have been the father of King Midas, referred to in Greek legends.
The sudden drought “would have undoubtedly caused mass problems with food provision. That would have affected the tax base of the empire pretty dramatically,” says Sturt Manning at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.Advertisement
The Hittite empire, which encompassed most of what is now Turkey and lasted nearly five centuries, was one of the major geopolitical forces of the ancient world, with a mastery of ironwork, a cuneiform writing system and an army that could take on neighbouring Egypt.
Ancient texts and archaeological discoveries suggest that around 1200 BC, cities began being abandoned and the empire splintered into independent states that were later overwhelmed by Assyrians from the east.
Several causes have been proposed, including disease, famine, a centuries-long shift to a drier climate, as well as earlier invasions by mysterious groups named “Sea Peoples” in Egyptian texts.
Now, Manning’s team has found evidence of a sharp and severe drought from a huge chamber tomb built in the city of Gordion in 748 BC. As the tomb’s mound is much bigger than others nearby, and was made about the time the local King Midas took the throne, some archaeologists say it could have been made for Midas’s father, the previous ruler – although nothing to identify the occupant remains.
Wood sample showing reduced growth for three consecutive yearsBrita Lorentzen
Clues to the fall of the Hittites, centuries earlier, come from the juniper logs making up the burial chamber. The logs were taken from 18 trees, which were growing from the period 1775 to 748 BC.
Less rainfall means less tree growth, which shows up as narrower gaps between tree rings. The logs show there were 80 instances of two or more consecutive years with low rainfall, and one of these was the three years from 1198 to 1196 BC – just when Hittite cities started being abandoned.
This was supported by another kind of test, measuring the ratio of different forms of carbon from samples of the wood. This shows gradually increasing dryness of the atmosphere between 1300 and 1200 BC, then spikes of dryness from 1222 to 1195 BC.
“Most traditional societies had some storage that would have helped them through one bad harvest,” says Manning. “By the time you get to a third one in a row, it’s become a crisis.”
Alan Greaves at the University of Liverpool in the UK, who wasn’t involved in the research, says the results shed new light on the climate changes at the time. “How do you pay for soldiers, how do you pay for artisans to make things?” he says. “A short, sharp drought would be enough to topple a very centralised state based heavily on grain and the gathering in and distribution of agricultural goods.”

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Two sections of the Thornborough Henges near Ripon, UK, have been donated to the public body Historic England in an effort to preserve the millennia-old monuments

Humans

3 February 2023

By Madeleine Cuff
The central of the three Thornborough HengesHistoric England
Thornborough Henges, a Neolithic complex near Ripon in North Yorkshire, UK, known as the “Stonehenge of the North”, has been donated to public ownership and is now open to visitors.  
The site dates from 3500 to 2500 BC and features three earth circles, each 4 metres high and 200 metres across. The earthworks were probably used as ceremonial gathering places and trading centres by early Britons, archaeologists believe. 
Two of the three henges have been donated to the public body Historic England by building firm Tarmac. They are now under the care of the charity English Heritage and are free for the public to visit. Lightwater Holdings, a local company, has also donated parts of the wider monument. Advertisement
The henges are “a link to our ancient ancestors, through thousands of years, inspiring a sense of wonder and mystery”, Duncan Wilson at Historic England said in a statement.
“We are thrilled to have acquired this highly significant site for the nation, ensuring that these magnificent monuments are safe and will be preserved for generations to come.” 
The southern and central hengesHistoric England
The transfer of ownership means the two earthworks will be removed from Historic England’s risk register. They have been on the register since 2009, over concerns the sites were being eroded by livestock and rabbits.  
Today, all three henges are visible as large, circular banks, but thousands of years ago, they would have stood above wetlands. They may have been covered in a sulphate mineral known as gypsum, creating white landmarks visible for miles.  
The site’s opening to the public will bring its story to new audiences, according to Kate Mavor at English Heritage. “Thornborough Henges is one of the most important ancient sites in Britain and yet almost completely unknown. We are looking forward to sharing its significance, its stories and its secrets with the public,” she said in a statement. 

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The first physical proof that Vikings brought horses and dogs to England has been unearthed

Humans

1 February 2023

By Jeremy Hsu
Excavations at Heath Wood in EnglandJulian Richards, University of York
Archaeologists have uncovered the first physical evidence that confirms some Vikings shipped their own horses and dogs from Scandinavia to England.
The animal bone evidence comes from a burial mound at the only known Viking cremation cemetery in the British Isles. The Heath Wood cemetery – located in what is now Derbyshire in central England – is believed to be a burial ground for the first large Viking army to travel to the country. The soldiers arrived in AD 873 on a campaign of … More

The extinct straight-tusked elephant was even larger than modern African elephants, making it unclear if Neanderthal hunters could take one down, but a newly analysed trove of bones suggests it was possible

Humans

1 February 2023

By Clare Wilson
A reconstruction of the straight-tusked elephantLUTZ KINDLER, MONREPOS
Neanderthals regularly hunted and butchered elephants in Europe thousands of years ago, according to an analysis of marks made by stone tools on a trove of bones.
The find suggests the ancient humans either lived in larger groups than previously suspected or that they had ways of processing the flesh so it didn’t spoil, says Wil Roebroeks at Leiden University in the Netherlands, given the amount of meat involved. “These elephants are really big calorie bombs.”
There has long been debate over whether Neanderthals, distant cousins of modern humans, could have hunted the straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus). These extinct giants stood 4 metres tall, making them larger than modern African elephants and woolly mammoths.Advertisement
To find out more, Roebroeks’s team took a closer look at elephant bones found alongside other animal remains and stone tools in a quarry near Halle, Germany, which was dug out from the 1980s. The bones have been dated to about 125,000 years ago, when Neanderthals were the only humans known to be in the area.
The remains were from more than 70 elephants, with a few found as nearly complete skeletons. The marks left on the bones suggest the animals were thoroughly butchered to obtain every last scrap of meat and fat – including, for instance their brains and all of the bulky fat pads in their feet.
There were also few gnaw marks left by scavenging carnivores, suggesting little food was left on the carcass. “There’s maybe a bit of nibbling on isolated vertebra, but most of these remains were so clean they weren’t attractive for carnivores,” says team member Lutz Kindler at the Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution in Neuwied, Germany.
The team has calculated that all the flesh from one of the elephants would have fed about 100 adults for a month. Some researchers have previously suggested that Neanderthals lived in fairly small groups of up to about 25 people, based on factors such as the size of their caves or analysis of their footprints. “There’s a perception they lived in small groups, but when you look for the evidence, there’s nothing,” says Clive Finlayson at the Gibraltar National Museum, who wasn’t involved in the new study.
If a smaller group of, say, 25 people had killed an elephant, they would have had to spend about three to five days working to strip the carcass of flesh and processing it so that it wouldn’t spoil, for instance by drying or smoking it, says Roebroeks. The marks on the bones mean the meat wasn’t simply left to rot once the Neanderthals had eaten their fill.

The team found a higher proportion of male and older elephants among the remains, suggesting that the Neanderthals were specifically targeting these animals, rather than scavenging from ones that had died of natural causes.
This makes some sense, as in modern elephants older males tend to live alone. Targeting loners would making hunting easier, says Roebroeks, as they could be driven into traps or muddy shores. “Large mammals are [easier] to kill as long as you are able to limit their mobility, and then they are finished off with spears,” he says.
Previous work has shown that Neanderthals may have cleared forests in the region where the bones were found, which also supports the idea they lived in larger groups.

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