# List of earliest tools

The following table attempts to list the oldest-known Paleolithic and Paleo-Indian sites where hominin tools have been found. It includes sites where compelling evidence of hominin tool use has been found, even if no actual tools have been found.
Stone tools preserve more readily than tools of many other materials. So the oldest tools that we can find in many areas are going to be stone tools. It could be that these tools were once accompanied by, or even preceded by, non-stone tools that we cannot find because they did not preserve.
Similarly, hard materials like bone or shell are more likely than softer materials to leave discernible cut marks on bone. Bamboo has been shown to leave cut marks on bone that are harder to see than cut marks by stone. So the earliest evidence of tool use that we are likely to find are often cut marks made on bone by stone or shell tools. Therefore, it should not be assumed that the items on this list represent the earliest uses of tools in each area, but rather the earliest uses of tools that have been found.
Because it focuses on only the earliest evidence of tools, and since the earliest evidence is biased towards stone by stone's increased likelihood of preservation, this page necessarily omits mention of many significant ancient tools of non-stone materials simply because those cases are not among the earliest found within their geographic area. See Timeline of historic inventions for other noteworthy tools and other inventions.
With its focus on tools, this list also omits some sites with the earliest evidence for the existence of hominins, but without evidence for tools. Many such sites have hominin bones, teeth, or footprints, but unless they also include evidence for tools or tool use, they are omitted here.
This list excludes tools and tool use attributed to non-hominin species. See Tool use by non-humans. Since there are far too many hominin tool sites to list on a single page, this page attempts to list the 6 or fewer top candidates for oldest tool site within each significant geographic area.

## Geographic areas covered

* Africa
** East Africa
** North Africa
** Southern Africa
** West Africa
* Americas
** North America
** South America
* Asia
** East Asia
** Island Southeast Asia - Islands between Sunda Shelf and Sahul, not connected to either one during the Last Glacial Maximum
** South Asia
** Sunda Shelf
** West Asia
* Europe
** Eastern Europe
** Western Europe
* Sahul - Australia and New Guinea
* Indian Ocean
For much of the 20th century, a "Clovis first" idea dominated American archeology. Many sites with dates too old to be compatible with "Clovis first" were published, but these were mostly dismissed under the hegemony of "Clovis first." Meanwhile some indigenous archeologists insisted throughout the "Clovis first" era that the peopling of the Americas was much older than Clovis. Recent publications with very strong evidence for pre-Clovis sites seem to have ended the hegemony of "Clovis first."

## List of tools

| Name | Date (Ma) | Location | Geographic area | Species | Type | Notes |
| Dikika | 3.39 | Hadar, Ethiopia | East Africa | A. afarensis (presumed) | Cut marks on bone | Controversial |
| Lomekwi 3 | 3.3 | West Turkana, Kenya | East Africa | | Stone tools | Mode 0 or Pre-Mode 1 stone tools are named after this site - see Stone tool |
| Nyayanga | 3.0–2.6 | Nyayanga, Kenya | East Africa | Paranthropus (associated) | Hominin remains, stone tools | Some, e.g. Kathy Shick, have suggested that the user of the tools may have been early Homo butchering Paranthropus as food. |
| Masol | 2.9–2.7 | Chandigarh, India | South Asia | | Stone tools and cut marks on bone | Controversial |
| Bokol Dora 1 (BD 1) | 2.6 | Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia | East Africa | | Stone tools | |
| Gona | 2.6 | Ethiopia | East Africa | | Stone tools and cut marks on bone | |
| Perdikkas | 3.0–2.5 | Perdikkas, Greece | Eastern Europe | | ”Butchered” mammoth bones, stone tools | Controversial |
| Bouri Hatayae layer | 2.5 | Ethiopia | East Africa | | Cut marks and percussion marks on bone | |
| Longgupo | 2.48 | Longgupo, southwest China | East Asia | | Stone tools and dental fragments | Controversial. Russell L. Ciochon has retracted the attribution to Homo and casts doubt on the dates of the tools: "Although I no longer consider the Longgupo jaw to be human, the two stone tools still stand as described. They must have been more recent additions to the site." Ciochon provides no direct evidence for his conclusion that the tools were "more recent additions." See Wushan Man |
| Aïn Boucherit | 2.4 | Algeria | North Africa | | Stone tools | |
| Xihoudu | 2.4 | Shanxi Province, China | East Asia | | Stone tools | |
| Renzidong (Renzi Cave) | 2.4–2.0 | Renzidong, southeast China | East Asia | | Stone tools | Controversial |
| Shangchen | 2.1 | Shaanxi, China | East Asia | | Stone tools and much later hominin remains (H. erectus) | |
| Drimolen Main Quarry (DMQ) | 2 | South Africa | Southern Africa | H. erectus, P. robustus (associated) | Hominin remains, stone tools, bone tools | |
| Riwat | 1.9 | Riwat, Pakistan | South Asia | | Stone tools | Controversial - the tools were found in a "secondary context" |
| Aïn al Fil | 1.8 | El Kowm, Syria | West Asia | | Stone tools | |
| Dmanisi | 1.8 | Dmanisi, Georgia | West Asia | H. erectus (associated) | Hominin remains, stone tools, butchery | |
| Swartkrans | 1.8 | South Africa | Southern Africa | Homo, P. robustus (associated) | Hominin remains, bone tools | |
| Sterkfontein StW 53 | 1.8–1.5 | South Africa | Southern Africa | | Cut marks on hominin bone | Controversial |
| Sangiran | 1.6–1.5 | Java, Indonesia | Sunda Shelf | H. erectus (associated) | Hominin remains, shell tool cut marks on bone | |
| Socotra Island | 2.5–1.4 | Socotra Island | Indian Ocean | H. erectus (presumed) | Stone tools | Oldowan stone tools. May very well be earliest evidence of seafaring. |
| Kozarnika, Dimovo Municipality | 1.4-1.6 | Bulgaria | Eastern Europe | H. erectus (associated) | Stone tools, hominin remains, cut marks on bone | |
| Pirro Nord | 1.3-1.6 | Italy | Western Europe | | Stone tools | |
| Sterkfontein Member 5 | 1.1-1.6 | South Africa | Southern Africa | | Stone tools, Homo and Paranthropus remains | |
| Barranco León | 1.2-1.4 | Spain | Western Europe | | Stone tools, animal bones, bone flakes | |
| Bois de Riquet US 2 | 1.2 | France | Western Europe | | Stone tools | |
| Wolo Sege, So'a Basin | 1 | Flores, Indonesia | Island Southeast Asia | H. floresiensis (presumed) | Stone tools | |
| Happisburgh | 0.9–0.7 | Great Britain | Western Europe | | Stone tools | |
| Kalinga site | 0.7 | Luzon, Philippines | Island Southeast Asia | H. luzonensis (presumed) | Stone tools, cut marks on bone | See Nesorhinus |
| Mata Menge, So'a Basin | 0.7 | Flores, Indonesia | Island Southeast Asia | H. floresiensis (presumed) | Stone tools | |
| Ounjougou | 0.5–0.15 | Mali | West Africa | | Stone tools | |
| Talepu | 0.2 | Sulawesi | Island Southeast Asia | | Stone tools | |
| Cerutti Mastodon site | 0.13 | California | North America | | Cobbles, percussion marks on bones | Controversial |
| Warratyi Rockshelter | 0.049 | South Australia | Sahul | H. sapiens (presumed) | Stone and bone tools, numerous animal remains | |
| Carpenter's Gap Shelter 1 | 0.049–0.044 | Western Australia | Sahul | H. sapiens (presumed) | Ground stone axe flake | |
| Pedra Furada | 0.048–0.023 | Brazil | South America | H. sapiens (presumed) | Stone tools | Controversial |
| Topper site | 0.05–0.016 | South Carolina, USA | North America | H. sapiens (presumed) | Stone tools | Controversial |
| Hartley Mammoth Site | 0.037 | New Mexico | North America | | Butchered bones | Controversial |
| Arroyo del Viscaino | 0.03 | Uruguay | South America | | Cut marks on bone | Controversial |
| Chiquihuite cave | 0.03 | Mexico | North America | H. sapiens (presumed) | Stone tools, animal bones, charcoal | Controversial |
| Santa Elina Shelter | 0.027 | Brazil | South America | | Stone tools, animal bones | Controversial |
| Cactus Hill | 0.018 | Virginia, USA | North America | H. sapiens (presumed) | Stone tools | Controversial |
| Rimrock Draw Rockshelter | 0.018–0.017 | Oregon, USA | North America | H. sapiens (presumed) | Stone tools, animal bones | |
| Monte Verde I | 0.018–0.014 | Chile | South America | H. sapiens (presumed) | Stone tools, bone fragments, charcoal | |
| Arroyo Seco 2 | 0.014 | Argentina | South America | H. sapiens (presumed) | Stone tools, cut marks on bone | |