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3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Sonia Harmand

    (Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University
    CNRS, UMR 7055, Préhistoire et Technologie, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense
    West Turkana Archaeological Project)

  • Jason E. Lewis

    (Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University
    West Turkana Archaeological Project
    Rutgers University)

  • Craig S. Feibel

    (West Turkana Archaeological Project
    Rutgers University
    Rutgers University)

  • Christopher J. Lepre

    (West Turkana Archaeological Project
    Rutgers University
    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University)

  • Sandrine Prat

    (West Turkana Archaeological Project
    CNRS, UPR 2147, Dynamique de l’Evolution Humaine)

  • Arnaud Lenoble

    (West Turkana Archaeological Project
    CNRS, UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux)

  • Xavier Boës

    (West Turkana Archaeological Project
    CNRS, UPR 2147, Dynamique de l’Evolution Humaine)

  • Rhonda L. Quinn

    (West Turkana Archaeological Project
    Rutgers University
    Anthropology and Social Work, Seton Hall University)

  • Michel Brenet

    (CNRS, UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux
    Inrap, Centre Mixte de Recherche Archéologique, Domaine de Campagne)

  • Adrian Arroyo

    (CNRS, UMR 7055, Préhistoire et Technologie, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense)

  • Nicholas Taylor

    (CNRS, UMR 7055, Préhistoire et Technologie, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense
    West Turkana Archaeological Project)

  • Sophie Clément

    (West Turkana Archaeological Project
    Inrap)

  • Guillaume Daver

    (IPHEP, Institut de Paléoprimatologie, Paléontologie Humaine: Évolution et Paléoenvironnements, CNRS, UMR 7262, Université de Poitiers, Bât. B35 – TSA 51106)

  • Jean-Philip Brugal

    (West Turkana Archaeological Project
    Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, MCC, UMR 7269, LAMPEA)

  • Louise Leakey

    (Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University)

  • Richard A. Mortlock

    (Rutgers University)

  • James D. Wright

    (Rutgers University)

  • Sammy Lokorodi

    (West Turkana Archaeological Project)

  • Christopher Kirwa

    (West Turkana Archaeological Project
    National Museums of Kenya, Archaeology Section)

  • Dennis V. Kent

    (Rutgers University
    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University)

  • Hélène Roche

    (CNRS, UMR 7055, Préhistoire et Technologie, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense
    West Turkana Archaeological Project)

Abstract

Human evolutionary scholars have long supposed that the earliest stone tools were made by the genus Homo and that this technological development was directly linked to climate change and the spread of savannah grasslands. New fieldwork in West Turkana, Kenya, has identified evidence of much earlier hominin technological behaviour. We report the discovery of Lomekwi 3, a 3.3-million-year-old archaeological site where in situ stone artefacts occur in spatiotemporal association with Pliocene hominin fossils in a wooded palaeoenvironment. The Lomekwi 3 knappers, with a developing understanding of stone’s fracture properties, combined core reduction with battering activities. Given the implications of the Lomekwi 3 assemblage for models aiming to converge environmental change, hominin evolution and technological origins, we propose for it the name ‘Lomekwian’, which predates the Oldowan by 700,000 years and marks a new beginning to the known archaeological record.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonia Harmand & Jason E. Lewis & Craig S. Feibel & Christopher J. Lepre & Sandrine Prat & Arnaud Lenoble & Xavier Boës & Rhonda L. Quinn & Michel Brenet & Adrian Arroyo & Nicholas Taylor & Sophie Clém, 2015. "3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya," Nature, Nature, vol. 521(7552), pages 310-315, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:521:y:2015:i:7552:d:10.1038_nature14464
    DOI: 10.1038/nature14464
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    Cited by:

    1. Patrice Christmann & Pierre Toulhoat & Jacques Varet, 2022. "Building a European vision in a global world: a tribute to Pr. F. W. Wellmer’s contribution, from a French perspective," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 35(3), pages 355-359, December.

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