To put the age of these tools into perspective, our species Homo sapiens did not appear until roughly 300,000 years ago. "The association of these Nyayanga tools with Paranthropus may reopen the case as to who made the oldest Oldowan tools. All later developments in prehistoric technologies were based on Oldowan tools, making their advent a milestone in human evolution, Potts said. Rudimentary stone tools 3.3 million years old from another Kenyan site may have been an Oldowan forerunner or a technological dead-end. The Nyayanga site today is a gully on Homa Mountain's western flank along Lake Victoria in southwestern Kenya.

Source: Ethiopian News February 11, 2023 00:33 UTC