It is not difficult to discover claims of controversial archaeological or anthropological findings. On any given day, there are a hundred “extraordinary discoveries” uploaded to YouTube and competing for the few non-alien History Channel slots. Many of these articles purport to provide evidence that “mainstream scientists” are completely wrong.
Even within the confines of peer-reviewed scientific journals, it is not difficult to discover fierce disagreements regarding theories about stone tools. Instruments can reveal a great deal about a culture, but sometimes they reveal more about the culture of the scientists examining them than about any ancient people.
Some of these contentious theories have been supported for years, even though the “tools” involved are merely fragments of rock with scant evidence that they were produced by anything other than solely accidental actions.
For instance, the Pedra Furada site in Brazil is said to contain stone artifacts that indicate the Americas were inhabited much earlier than is commonly believed. To accept this theory, however, it is necessary to explain why these early Americans fashioned instruments that were far more primitive than those that humans had been producing for hundreds of thousands of years.
In response to the theory that the broken stones at the site were created by capuchin monkeys (which do construct stone tools), one researcher stated succinctly, “The Pedra Furada stuff is not even up to capuchin standards.”
There is, however, one set of stone tools that are unmistakably stone tools. In other words, a collection of tools whose consistency of design and clarity of purpose indicate their human origin. People who had mastered the art of working with numerous types of stone.
Or, it would imply… if there had been humans to create them.
In 2015, a study published in Nature discussed the location known as Lomekwi 3 in the northwest corner of Kenya. There, a collection of stone artifacts were discovered “in situ,” which means they had not been eroded out of the layer in which they were interred. This made it possible to date them with some precision.
For pounding plants and nuts, the tools included stones that had been shaped to better suit the hand. Sharp stone pieces may have been blades for cutting flesh or hide and cleavers for separating bones.
The authors of the 2015 paper hypothesized that the creators of these tools had a “comprehension of stone’s fracture properties” to create the necessary shapes, and there did appear to be recurring forms — what anthropologists sometimes refer to as a “toolkit.” In addition, they discovered stone “anvils” used by the people who worked the stones at Lomekwi, as well as flint cores from which sharp implements had been fashioned.
There was more to these instruments than their appearance. To achieve the desired results, techniques such as rotating the stone core and pounding or flaking it against the anvil from various angles were employed, as evidenced by the stones. There was substantial evidence that these formations were not accidental.
Oldowan
There were approximately two dozen well-preserved implements. With the addition of unfinished cores, anvils, and stone fragments, the total exceeded one hundred. These tools looked like “Oldowan” tools from the site where the first ones were found.
Then… that other thing occurred. That made it possible for these instruments to crush not only ancient rhino bones but also the human ego. Not only are these implements older than modern humans, who date back approximately 200,000 years. But they are also older than the Homo genus. Elder by approximately 500,000 years. The fact that the Lomekwi implements were 3,300,000 years old truly distinguished them.
Sophisticated instruments
The traditional method of thinking about the development of more advanced tools may not view this as a problem. Early supposition associated with these artifacts suggested that they might indicate that our ancient early Homo ancestors split from the rest of our hominin relatives. We had not yet discovered their bones, but we had discovered evidence of their presence: sophisticated instruments.
If you haven’t observed it recently, our subset of the tree of life has grown quite dense. Sometimes perplexing relationships and reorderings have been suggested by the combination of DNA analysis and meticulous cladistics.
For instance, good old “handyman” Homo habilis, a longtime fixture of “march of evolution” posters that imply a straight line path from not-a-chimpanzee to us, has been relegated to a side branch as an evolutionary second cousin rather than a great-great-grand human. There, it hangs out with a member of the Australopithecus genus, which is currently, to say it mildly, a hot mess.
There is, however, a long branch that separated from the remainder of the hominin clade approximately 4 million years ago. The ur-Homo, our first teammate, may still be AWOL. But all those tools could have been created by individuals who would eventually give rise to us.
So everything remained stable… Until sufficient evidence accumulated to suggest that things may be more complex than we wish to believe.
An article published in Science earlier this month examined some of the sites with the oldest Oldowan tool sets — tools that are more refined and prevalent than those at Lomekwi. Tools that are, in fact, instruments. Not only do Oldawan implements appear in Africa, but also in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. Consequently, our men created these.
Please add a letter set to symbolise a thousand paleoanthropologists gasping in shock or spitting in anger. Because … Paranthropus? Paranthropus?
Check out the above chart. See how Paranthropus is located at the very bottom of the tree, several branches away from anything that begins with Homo? Observe how it is not even on the line leading to Homo? This is not a novel concept.
If Paranthropus had been on the chart, it would have been the last option for complex tool production. This species was always seen at the men who started towards us before taking a sharp detour. According to their plaque at the Smithsonian,
What is the appellation for Paranthropus in the list of “upright man” and “handyman” hominins? Here is the “Nutcracker fellow.” It has the largest, thickest molars of any hominin species.
The large crest on its cranium and massive jaw muscles have always given it the appearance of a species that considered the effort required to become human and decided that becoming a gorilla would be easier.
Discovering that Paranthropus invented the first toolkit is comparable to learning that Ted Cruz is a brain surgeon in disguise.
These men could not comprehend that Paranthropus invented these tools. Might they? Couldn’t a member of the Homo club have simply engaged in some good old-fashioned kin consumption and left behind a few molars and bones? Because it is common knowledge that Homo habilis made Oldowan implements. It is in every book.
Holy frack. Do they truly believe that Paranthropus created the first complex stone tools, including the first scrapers used in butchering flesh, the first blade used for cutting, the first chopper designed to split open large bones or work with wood, and the first awls designed for boring holes in other materials?
Why would the guys with the best teeth in history and jaw muscles so powerful that they could virtually chew rocks be the first to invent tools that helped them cut and prepare food? How dare they be so, so… other than us?
Some sites appear to demonstrate H. habilis and other members of Team Human using the same Oldowan tools. however, these are newer sites.
According to this New Scientist interview with the paper’s authors, “Paranthropus coexisted with other hominins, including Homo, for over a million years.” Nevertheless, it is widely believed that they have no living descendants.”
Is it conceivable that the thing that made us human wasn’t created by us? Even the paper’s authors are open to the possibility that the association of Paranthropus bones with early Oldowan implements is not conclusive (or a signed scraper). Perhaps somebody else in the community crafted these tools.
Around 3 million years ago, things were extremely complex, with human progenitors going in many different directions. Perhaps there was a greater exchange of ideas and culture in its most fundamental form than we previously believed.
The Oldowan and Lomekwi are too purpose-built to be the first tools. Chimpanzees create tools consisting of stripped sticks and pounding stones used to split nuts. But there are several generations of development between these tools and those discovered at Lomekwi.
Who or what fashioned the Lomekwi instruments 3,300,000 years ago? What about the numerous variants that must have preceded Lomekwi? Who first regarded a stone and questioned it? “If we remove a particle here and another there…”
This is all quite thrilling for paleoanthropologists.
Honestly, we should all find it thrilling. The development of tools appears to have begun very early on. And it may have extended throughout the entire hominin clade, not just to our small branch.
If we did indeed appropriate the foundation of our entire culture from an extinct relative, a group of human ancestors who perished without leaving behind a representative to speak for them, then… that is our responsibility. Let’s applaud the Nutcracker fellow. Perhaps they had not only large canines but also a large hearts. Perhaps they invented sharing as well.
