Stone tools used by homo erectus

Homo erectus skull fragments found in Ethiopia. The discovery of skull fragments alongside different types of stone tools in Ethiopia sheds new light on the lifestyle of the ancient hominin Homo erectus. It dispels the idea that each hominin species used just one type of tool technology and indicates that H. One was 1. Unusually, the skulls were found directly alongside various stone tools.

Compared with earlier hominins, members of this species had relatively large brains and were adept tool-makers. Along with University of Arizona geologist Jay Quade, Levin also coordinated the environmental reconstruction of the Gona sites.

Fossil fauna were abundant at the BSN12 site, but cut marks or hammerstone-percussed bones were not identified. At the DAN5 site, an elephant toe bone was found with stone tool cut marks, and a small antelope leg bone had a percussion notch, suggesting that H. There is a common view that early Homo e.

The timing, causes, and nature of this significant transition to the Acheulian by about 1. Investigations at both sites clearly show that Oldowan technology persisted much longer after the invention of the Acheulian, suggesting a particular behavioral flexibility and cultural complexity practiced by H.

Rogers of Southern Connecticut State University. Both sites at Gona are among the earliest examples of H. In Africa, some argue that multiple hominin species may have been responsible for the two distinct contemporary stone technologies, Oldowan and Acheulian. To the contrary, the new evidence from Gona suggests a lengthy and concurrent use of both Oldowan and Acheulian technologies by a single long-lived species, H.

Tia is the assistant managing editor and was previously a senior writer for Live Science. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired. She holds a master's degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington, a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Tia was part of a team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that published the Empty Cradles series on preterm births, which won multiple awards, including the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.

Live Science. Tia Ghose. With a smaller brain and heavier brow than homo sapiens, they are thought to have been a key evolutionary step in our evolution. It was previously thought Homo erectus disappeared some , years ago but recent estimates suggesting they went extinct just , years ago. They are thought to have given rise to a number of different extinct human species including Homo heidelbergensis and Homo antecessor.

Source: Read Full Article. Home » Science » Stone tools used by homo erectus found in abandoned Sahara goldmine. Stone tools used by homo erectus found in abandoned Sahara goldmine. Hundreds of prehistoric stone tools discovered in abandoned goldmine in Sahara may be ONE MILLION years old A gold rush in Sudan has led to numerous open-pit mines in the Eastern Desert Miners found hand-axes, almond-shaped cleavers and other tools Workmanship on the tools dates them to , to a million years old Because stone flakes were also found, its believed the site was a tool workshop The site is the oldest confirmed example of tool-making in the Eastern Sahara Hundreds of stone tools that were crafted by homo erectus and discovered in a gold mine in the Sahara desert are believed to be up to a million years old.

The trove of hominid artifacts were uncovered by miners in northeastern Sudan.