Humans used the same stone tools for 300,000 years
Researchers at the Namorotukunan site in East Africa have discovered that early humans, 2.75 million years ago, continuously used the same type of stone tools for an astonishing 300,000 years. The finding challenges previous assumptions that the first tools were created by chance and that the knowledge of making them quickly disappeared.
This is the first evidence that technology was passed down through thousands of generations, opening a new chapter in our understanding of human evolution.
Technological continuity millions of years old
Professor David Braun from George Washington University, the lead author of the study published in Nature Communications, said the results “offer strong evidence that our ancestors already had stable behavioral patterns at that time.”
“We thought tool use was temporary, but when we see the same patterns repeated for 300,000 years, that’s simply not possible,” Braun said.
Archaeologists found 1,300 stone artifacts
The team spent ten years excavating the site, uncovering over 1,300 stone flakes, hammers, and shaped stones made using the Oldowan technique, named after the Oldowan Gorge in Tanzania. It is the oldest known method of stone tool production in human history.
The same type of tools was found in three different soil layers, proving the long-term use of the same technology.
“Each stone was carefully selected, showing a high level of skill and understanding of materials,” said Dr. Dan Palcu Rolier from the University of São Paulo. “These people were insightful geologists. They knew exactly where to find the best stone and how to shape it.”
Technology as the key to survival
Geological analysis suggests that such tools helped early humans survive dramatic climate changes, including the shift from wetlands to dry grasslands and semi-deserts.
Instead of adapting biologically, they relied on technology—changing how they obtained food rather than their own bodies.
“These early inhabitants of the eastern Turkana Basin survived thanks to technology, not biology,” explained Dr. Palcu Rolier.
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A discovery that changes everything we know
The Namorotukunan findings question long-held scientific beliefs. Until now, researchers thought that continuous tool use began only 2.4 to 2.2 million years ago, when humans had already developed larger brains.
Now we know that early humans with smaller brains were already transmitting knowledge and crafting sophisticated tools.
Professor Braun concludes that “early humans were innovators much earlier than previously thought” and that the roots of human creativity and adaptability go much deeper than we imagined.
“Technology was the key to survival, and its origins reach back at least 2.75 million years,” Braun said.
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