Elephant humerus bone tool (Credit CSIC)
A groundbreaking study involving researchers from UCL and CSIC – Spanish National Research Council has uncovered the oldest collection of mass-produced prehistoric bone tools, suggesting that early human ancestors developed abstract reasoning and tool-making skills nearly one million years earlier than previously thought.
Published in Nature, the research describes 27 fossilized bone tools that were expertly crafted into hand tools approximately 1.5 million years ago. This discovery marks the earliest known evidence of systematic bone tool production, reshaping our understanding of human evolution and technological advancements.
The findings challenge long-held archaeological beliefs and provide new insights into early human intelligence, craftsmanship, and problem-solving abilities. As scientists continue to analyze these ancient artifacts, the study could redefine the timeline of human cognitive and technological evolution.
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Co-author Dr Renata F. Peters (UCL Archaeology) said: “The tools show evidence that their creators carefully worked the bones, chipping off flakes to create useful shapes. We were excited to find these bone tools from such an early timeframe. It means that human ancestors were capable of transferring skills from stone to bone, a level of complex cognition that we haven’t seen elsewhere for another million years.”
Lead author Dr Ignacio de la Torre of the CSIC-Spanish National Research Council added: “This discovery leads us to assume that early humans significantly expanded their technological options, which until then were limited to the production of stone tools and now allowed new raw materials to be incorporated into the repertoire of potential artifacts.
“At the same time, this expansion of technological potential indicates advances in the cognitive abilities and mental structures of these hominins, who knew how to incorporate technical innovations by adapting their knowledge of stone work to the manipulation of bone remains.”
The tools were discovered in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, a site renowned for its long history of important archaeological discoveries revealing the origins of humans.
The researchers found 27 bones that had been shaped into tools at the site. The bones mostly came from large mammals, mostly elephants and hippos. The tools are exclusively made from the animals’ limb bones, as these are the most dense and strong.
The oldest stone tools belong to the “Oldowan” period, spanning from approximately 2.7 to 1.5 million years ago. This technology involved a basic technique of striking a hammerstone against a stone core to remove one or several flakes.
The bone tools discussed in this study date from when our ancient ancestors were transitioning into the “Acheulean” period, which began around 1.7 million years ago. Acheulean technology is distinguished by more sophisticated handaxes that were methodically shaped through knapping—enabling the creation of tools using more standardized methods.
These bone artifacts demonstrate that these advanced techniques were transferred to bone materials as well, a development previously undocumented in the fossil record until a million years later, much further into the Acheulean period.
