Humans know how to use the tool from 3.4 million years ago

Recent archaeologists have shown that humans have known to use tools for hunting and eating animals from 3.4 million years ago, 800,000 years earlier than we previously thought.

This finding also means that Homo species are not the first people to use tools, but Australopithecus afarensis.The first human fossil dated to about 3.2 million years discovered in Ethiopia's Awash Valley in 1976 was named 'Lucy' .

Cuts with stone tools on newly discovered animal bones.
Photo: Telegraph

Dr. Zeresenay Alemseged, an archaeologist specializing in the study of human evolutionary history at the California Institute of Science, has unearthed two pieces of animal bones dating back 3.4 million years ago. the area of ​​Dikika, about 400 km northeast of Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

Both bone fragments are found in mammals - one is the rib of an animal the size of a cow and a piece of thigh bone of an animal with the size of a goat.These two bones had traces of cuts that were supposed to be of stone tools to filter the flesh out of the bone and take the marrow.

Where archaeologists found the two pieces of bone very close to the site of the excavation of human fossil bones in Ethiopia's Awash valley in 1976. In addition, the site found two bone fragments that were only a few blocks away. Nearly 200 m where Dr. Alemseged's research team found the fossil of Selam humanity - thought to be the descendant of the Lucy species, in 2000. That proves that humans in this period knew how to use it. Using stone tools to eat meat, almost 1 million years earlier than we thought before.

'This new finding may force us to change the content of human evolutionary material. New evidence suggests that humans know how to use tools to cut animal flesh nearly 1 million years earlier than we thought. This development greatly affects human evolution, 'said Dr. Zeresenay Alemseged.

'This discovery has changed our thinking about human ancestors. Knowing how to use tools is an important milestone in human evolution and is money to help us invent modern porch technologies such as planes, iPhones, . ' , Dr. Zeresenay adds.

Meanwhile, Dr. Shannon McPherron, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and an excavation team member, said: 'Our findings could bring the Stone Age back. 800,000 years earlier. We can now imagine the Lucy people hunting in African lands with a hand tool . '

Until now, the oldest tool discovered was about 2.5 million years ago.These tools stick to a piece of animal bones excavated in Bouri region in Ethiopia.This is also considered the beginning of the Stone Age.In addition, several other stone tools of the same age have been found in the area near Gona (Ethiopia).