Stone tool types could date back 2.6 million years

[Eldorado]

Using a recently introduced type of statistical analysis, researchers estimated the proportion of stone tool artifacts that might be lying undiscovered based on what has been dug up so far. In turn, this gives us clues about how old the tool remnants we don't yet know about are likely to be.

These calculations reveal that ancient hominins may have been using basic Oldowan tools 2.617-2.644 million years ago (up to 63,000 years earlier than previous findings suggest), and the slightly more sophisticated Acheulean tools may have been used 1.815-1.823 million years ago (at least 55,000 years earlier than previously thought).

Science Alert

Statistical inference of earlier origins for the first flaked stone technologies

Science Direct

Edited March 26, 2021 by Eldorado