IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v385y1997i6614d10.1038_385333a0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

2.5-million-year-old stone tools from Gona, Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • S. Semaw

    (Rutgers University)

  • P. Renne

    (Berkeley Geochronology Center)

  • J. W. K. Harris

    (Rutgers University)

  • C. S. Feibel

    (Rutgers University)

  • R. L. Bernor

    (Howard University)

  • N. Fesseha

    (Howard University)

  • K. Mowbray

    (Rutgers University)

Abstract

The Oldowan Stone tool industry was named for 1.8-million-year-old (Myr) artefacts found near the bottom of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Subsequent archaeological research in the Omo (Ethiopia) and Turkana (Kenya) also yielded stone tools dated to 2.3 Myr. Palaeoanthropological investigations in the Hadar region of the Awash Valley of Ethiopia1, revealed Oldowan assemblages in the adjacent Gona River drainage2. We conducted field work in the Gona study area of Ethiopia between 1992 and 1994 which resulted in additional archaeological discoveries as well as radio-isotopic age control and a magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the Gona sequence. These occurrences are now securely dated between 2.6–2.5 Myr. The stone tools are thus the oldest known artefacts from anywhere in the world. The artefacts show surprisingly sophisticated control of stone fracture mechanics, equivalent to much younger Oldowan assemblages of Early Pleistocene age. This indicates an unexpectedly long period of technological stasis in the Oldowan.

Suggested Citation

  • S. Semaw & P. Renne & J. W. K. Harris & C. S. Feibel & R. L. Bernor & N. Fesseha & K. Mowbray, 1997. "2.5-million-year-old stone tools from Gona, Ethiopia," Nature, Nature, vol. 385(6614), pages 333-336, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:385:y:1997:i:6614:d:10.1038_385333a0
    DOI: 10.1038/385333a0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/385333a0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/385333a0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:385:y:1997:i:6614:d:10.1038_385333a0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.