Palaeontology

Ancient tools discovery could rewrite history

By T.K. Randall
December 1, 2018

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Found during excavations at the Ain Boucherit site in north-eastern Algeria, the tools, which date back 2.4 million years, are 600,000 years older than anything previously found in the country.

Archaeologists now believe that either the first humans spread very rapidly from east Africa or they emerged simultaneously across several different regions of the African continent.

"The evidence from Algeria shows that the cradle of humankind was not restricted to only east Africa," said research leader Professor Mohamed Sahnouni."Rather the entire African continent was the cradle of humankind."

While there is still much work to be done in confirming these conclusions, if it is true that mankind did not emerge exclusively in east Africa then it means that the history books of our evolutionary history may very well have to be rewritten.

Ancient stone tools and cut-marked animal bones discovered in Algeria suggest that modern humans' ancestors called northern Africa home much earlier than archaeologists once thought. https://t.co/jpV3sPJKpW pic.twitter.com/RJirGdhfUJ

— Science Magazine (@sciencemagazine) November 30, 2018

Source: Independent

Tags: Africa, Human