Lomekwi is an
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...
located on the west bank of
Turkana Lake in
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
. It is an important milestone in the history of human archaeology. An archaeological team from
Stony Brook University in the United States discovered traces of Lomekwi by chance in July 2011, and made substantial progress four years after in-depth excavations.
Artifacts excavated from Lomekwi date back to 3.3 million years ago, completely overturning the history of human use and tool making and advancing it by about 500,000 years. The most conspicuous among these cultural relics is a large stone tool with obvious traces of human processing. It looks like a cutting board, but its exact purpose is not clear yet.
The artifacts from Lomekwi have a unique production method and are an independent production style. The archaeological team calls it Lomekwian. These tools, which are not highly processed, completely distinguish
Australopithecus
''Australopithecus'' (, ; or (, ) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genera ''Homo'' (which includes modern humans), ''Paranthropus'', and ''Kenyanthropus'' evolved from some ''Aus ...
from other primates, and it is highly likely that ancient humans already had basic cognitive abilities.
Discovery
In July 2011, a team of archeologists led by
Sonia Harmand and Jason Lewis of
Stony Brook University, United States, were heading to a site near
Lake Turkana, Kenya near where ''
Kenyanthropus platyops'' fossils had previously been found.
The group made a wrong turn on the way and ended up in a previously unexplored region and decided to do some surveying. They quickly found some stone artifacts on the site, which they named Lomekwi 3.
A year later, they returned to the site for a full excavation.
Harmand presented her findings at the annual meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society on April 14, 2015
and published the full announcement and results on the cover of Nature on May 21, 2015.
Artifacts
Around 20 well preserved artifacts have been dug up at Lomekwi 3, including anvils, cores, and flakes. An additional 130 artifacts were found on the surface. In one instance, Harmand's team was able to match a flake to its core, suggesting a
hominin had made and discarded the tool at the site.
The tools were generally quite large – larger than the oldest known stone tools, recovered in the
Gona area of the
Afar Region
The Afar Region (; ; ), formerly known as Region 2, is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northeastern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Afar people. Its capital is the planned city of Semera, which lies on the paved Awash, Ethiopia, Awash� ...
of
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
, in 1992. The largest weighs 15kg, and may have been used as an anvil. According to Harmand, it appeared that the tool makers had purposely selected large, heavy blocks of strong stone, ignoring smaller blocks of the same material found in the area.
She ruled out the possibility that the tools were actually natural rock formations, saying "The artifacts were clearly
knapped and not the result of accidental fracture of rocks".
Analysis suggested the cores had been rotated as flakes were struck off.
The purpose of the tools found at Lomekwi 3 is unclear, as animal bones found at the site do not bear any sign of hominin activity.
This is the greatest expression of late
Neogene
The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...
technology known to the archaeological record.
Based on the buried artifacts' stratigraphic position (in undisturbed sediment) relative to two layers of volcanic ash and known magnetic reversals, Harmand and her team dated the tools to 3.3 million years ago.
The finds at Lomekwi therefore represent the oldest stone tools ever discovered, predating the Gona tools, dated to 2.6 mya, by 700,000 years.
Hominin evolution
The date predates the genus ''
Homo
''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively called ...
'' by 500,000 years, suggesting this tool making was undertaken by ''
Australopithecus
''Australopithecus'' (, ; or (, ) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genera ''Homo'' (which includes modern humans), ''Paranthropus'', and ''Kenyanthropus'' evolved from some ''Aus ...
'' or ''
Kenyanthropus'' (which was found near Lomekwi 3).
Previously, evidence of stone tool use by
Australopithecus
''Australopithecus'' (, ; or (, ) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genera ''Homo'' (which includes modern humans), ''Paranthropus'', and ''Kenyanthropus'' evolved from some ''Aus ...
has been suggested on the basis of cut-marks on animal bones, but those findings have been debated, with no scientific consensus forming on either side of the debate.
Harmand said the Lomekwi 3 artifacts do not fit into the
Oldowan tool making tradition and should be considered part of a distinct tradition, which she termed Lomekwian.
It has been hypothesized that tool making may have aided in the evolution of
Homo
''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively called ...
into a distinct genus.
However, it is unclear whether the Lomekwian tools are related to those made by
Homo
''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively called ...
species – it is possible the technology was forgotten and later rediscovered.
Independent researchers who have seen the tools are generally supportive of Harmand's conclusions.
George Washington University anthropologist Alison Brooks said the tools "could not have been created by natural forces ... the dating evidence is fairly solid."
Rick Potts, head of the
Human Origins Program at the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
, said the tools represented a more primitive style than known human-made tools, but something more sophisticated than what modern
chimpanzee
The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...
s do. "There's no doubt it's purposeful" toolmaking, he remarked.
A Paleoanthropologist
Zeresenay Alemseged, who was responsible for the earlier research suggesting
Australopithecus
''Australopithecus'' (, ; or (, ) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genera ''Homo'' (which includes modern humans), ''Paranthropus'', and ''Kenyanthropus'' evolved from some ''Aus ...
had made tools, also backed Harmand's conclusions.
References
External links
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List of stone tools and their 3D-model{{Prehistoric technology
2015 in science
Archaeological sites in Kenya
Lithics
Lower Paleolithic Archaeological cultures of Africa
Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa