2.7-million-year-old tools reveal humanity’s first great innovation
For nearly 300,000 years, early humans shaped stone tools with precision, even as they faced constant wildfires, severe droughts, and dramatic shifts in their environment. A new study published in Nature Communications reveals astonishing evidence of this long-lived technological tradition in Kenya’s Turkana Basin.
At the Namorotukunan Site, an international team of researchers uncovered one of the earliest and most enduring records of Oldowan stone toolmaking, dating between roughly 2.75 and 2.44 million years ago. These ancient implements — essentially the first multi-purpose “Swiss Army knives” made by hominins — show that our ancestors not only adapted to extreme change but prospered during one of Earth’s most unstable eras.
“This site reveals an extraordinary story of cultural continuity,” said lead author David R. Braun, a professor of anthropology at the George Washington University. He is also affiliated with the Max Planck Institute. “What we’re seeing isn’t a one-off innovation — it’s a long-standing technological tradition.”
According to Susana Carvalho, director of science at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique and senior author of the study, “Our findings suggest that tool use may have been a more generalized adaptation among our primate ancestors.”
“Namorotukunan offers a rare lens on a changing world long gone — rivers on the move, fires tearing through, aridity closing in — and the tools, unwavering. For ~300,000 years, the same craft endures — perhaps revealing the roots of one of our oldest habits: using technology to steady ourselves against change,” said Dan V. Palcu Rolier, corresponding author and a senior scientist at GeoEcoMar, Utrecht University and the University of São Paulo.
Key Findings
Mastering Technology Across Millennia: Early hominins crafted sharp-edged stone tools with impressive precision and consistency. Their enduring design shows that knowledge and technique were passed down for countless generations, forming a legacy of skill and innovation.
Modern Science Meets Ancient Stone: Using volcanic ash dating, magnetic patterns preserved in ancient sediments, chemical analyses of rock, and microscopic plant traces, the researchers reconstructed an environmental timeline that connects early toolmaking to major climatic transformations.
Adapting Through Environmental Upheaval: These early toolmakers lived through periods of intense climate instability. Their ability to create versatile tools opened new dietary possibilities, including access to meat, turning environmental stress into an evolutionary advantage.
What The Experts Say
On the ground, the craft is remarkably consistent: “These finds show that by about 2.75 million years ago, hominins were already good at making sharp stone tools, hinting that the start of the Oldowan technology is older than we thought,” said Niguss Baraki at the George Washington University.
The butchery signal is clear as well:”At Namorotukunan, cutmarks link stone tools to meat eating, revealing a broadened diet that endured across changing landscapes,” said Frances Forrest at Fairfield University.
“The plant fossil record tells an incredible story: The landscape shifted from lush wetlands to dry, fire-swept grasslands and semideserts,” said Rahab N. Kinyanjui at the National Museums of Kenya / Max Planck Institute. “As vegetation shifted, the toolmaking remained steady. This is resilience.”
The paper, “Early Oldowan technology thrived during Pliocene environmental change in the Turkana Basin, Kenya,” was published today (November 4) in Nature Communications.
This research was led by an international team of archaeologists, geologists, and paleoanthropologists from institutions in Kenya, Ethiopia, the United States, Brazil, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Fieldwork was carried out under the guidance of the National Museums of Kenya and with the support of the Daasanach and Ileret communities.
This research was carried out with permission from the National Museums of Kenya and Kenya’s Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, and in partnership with the Koobi Fora Field School. Funding was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation the Leakey Foundation, the Palaeontological Scientific Trust, the Dutch Research Council, the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research.
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