Subscribe to access the summary in 20 seconds.
Between 2.6 and 3 million years ago, hominins had already learned to move away from their Nyayanga camp, in southwest Kenya, at the foot of the Homa volcano, to find rocks adapted to the rendering of meat and the treatment of vegetation. A team of 16 researchers from ten countries describes this discovery in Science Advances August 15. It completes a first study published in Science In 2023, which detailed the excavations of this site located on the banks of the current Victoria lake and associate at the beginning of what is called Oldowayen, the oldest known lithic industry.
Hominines – a group that includes modern humans, extinguished human species and their ancestors – who occupied the premises consumed in particular meat and bone marrow. Evidenced by the fossilized bones of hippopotamia and antelopes which carry traces of cutting or crushing. “What is particularly interesting here is the diversity of rocks,” said Emma Finestone, of the Cleveland Natural History Museum (Ohio, United States). First author of the study published in Science Advancesit just comes home from a new excavation campaign in the region. «In many Oldowayan sites, a rock largely dominates the assembly of tools, of around 70% to 80%. The materials generally come from very close sources. The assembly of Nyayanga is incredibly varied, ”she specifies.