At a site in Kenya, archaeologists recently unearthed layer upon layer of stone stools from deposits that span 300,000 years, and include a period of intense environmental upheaval. The oldest tools ...

Along the shores of Africa's Lake Victoria in Kenya roughly 2.9 million years ago, early human ancestors used some of the oldest stone tools ever found to butcher hippos and pound plant material, ...

Captive orangutans that had never seen stone tools have spontaneously picked up rocks and used them as hammers. One individual also used a sharp stone as a cutting tool. The finding suggests that even ...

Untrained, captive orangutans can complete two major steps in the sequence of stone tool use: striking rocks together and cutting using a sharp stone, according to a new study. Untrained, captive ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. The discovery of ...

A fossil hippo skeleton and associated Oldowan artifacts were exposed at the Nyayanga site. T.W. Plummer, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropological Project The dead hippo represented a stroke of luck to our ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. An international team of archaeologists recently uncovered some of ...

Have you ever found yourself in a museum’s gallery of human origins, staring at a glass case full of rocks labeled “stone tools,” muttering under your breath, “How do they know it’s not just any old ...

Nyayanga site being excavated in July 2016. Credit: J.S. Oliver, Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project “The assumption among researchers has long been that only the genus Homo, to which humans ...

Consider the possibility that all human technology started with a mistake—or at least a lack of hand-eye coordination. In pursuit of this idea, Lydia Luncz and Tomos Proffitt, both at the Max Planck ...