An archaelogical dig in Ethiopia has unearthed flaked stone tools dating back to 2.78 million years ago, approximately 200k years before the previously known flaked stone tools.
The tools were dropped near a water source and buried in the sediment millions of years ago.
The strange thing is there’s no clear connection between this technology and earlier stone tool use, in which stones were used as a hammer (Chimpanzees and monkeys, in modern times, currently use stone tools in this way) or between these flaked stone tools and those found at other archaeological sites. This suggests flaked stone tools were invented multiple times in multiple places.
The shift between using stones as blunt objects to flaking pieces of stone off to sharpen the stone occurred approximately 2.6 million years ago and coincided with a change in human biology. Specifically, teeth grew smaller since food was being processed before being consumed.
This region in Ethiopia is a hotbed for archaeological activity; in 2013 a jawbone was found which is the oldest fossil known to belong to a member of the Homogenus (of Homo Sapienfame).
