Oldest Advanced Tools Found in Kenya
By John Timmer, Ars Technica Given that chimps have demonstrated the ability to make and use tools in the wild, chances our that our human ancestors inherited some of that ability from the ancestor both humans and chimps have in common. By 1.4 million years ago, African Homo erectus was using the far more involved and sophisticated Acheulian tool technology, which later made its way out of Africa. The site in question lies near Lake Turkana in Kenya, which was already famous for finds relevant to human origins, including the Turkana Boy Homo erectus skeleton, which dates from 1.5 million years ago. That last figure is rather significant, given that there are no reliably dated Acheulian tools older than 1.4 million years. It hadn't spread far enough to be in use by the first members of Homo erectus that left Africa at about the same time, and we don't have reliable dates on Acheulian tools in the Middle East that are much older than a million years.
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