Oldowan

Oldowan (or Mode I) tools were a style of stone tools that were widely used during the early Lower Paleolithic period, the first part of the Stone Age. Oldowan tool artifacts are the earliest evidence we have of human tool-making.

Ancient hominids made and used Oldowan tools from about 2.9 million years ago to about 1.4 million years ago. Towards the end of this era, hominids began to make more sophisticated tools, which archaeologists call Acheulean. This new industry eventually replaced the Oldowan tool culture.

 Discovery 
The archaeologist Louis Leakey was the first to discover Oldowan tool artifacts. He found them in the 1930s in Tanzania. Oldowan tools are named after Olduvai Gorge, the archaeological site where Leakey made his discovery.

 Age 
The oldest known Oldowan tools are dated to around 2.9 million years ago. They were found at Nyayanga on the Homa Peninsula in Kenya, near Paranthropus teeth and two butchered hippo skeletons. Archaeologists have also found early Oldowan tools in Gona, Ethiopia (near the Awash River) which are dated to about 2.6 million years ago.

Oldowan tools found in Dmanisi, Georgia prove that early species of Homo (early humans) lived in Europe by 1.8 million years ago.

The newest Oldowan tools ever found were about 1.4 million years old.

 Description 
The Oldowan toolkit included three types of stone tools. These were hammerstones, cores and flakes. Early humans used hammerstones to create flakes from core stones. By pounding a core stone with a hammerstone at a certain angle, they split off sharp flakes that could be used to cut, chop, or scrape.

 Creation 
Archaeologists do not know for sure which species actually invented Oldowan tools. They may have been invented by australopithecines or Homo habilis. These tools were most commonly used by early species of Homo, such as H. habilis, H. erectus, and H. ergaster. They may have also been used by Homo rudolfensis, Paranthropus boisei, and/or Paranthropus robustus. 

Scientists think that early Homo erectus inherited Oldowan technology, then refined it into the Acheulean industry beginning about 1.7 million years ago. Archaeologists have found both Oldowan and Acheulian artifacts with H. erectus crania at two sites in Gona, Ethiopia. This suggests that H. erectus used both styles of tools for a period of time.

 Importance 
Oldowan tools seem very simple today, but they were very important in early human history. They gave early humans an evolutionary advantage: they helped them survive as successful species for long periods of time. They allowed humans to access new kinds of food, like bone marrow, and make things out of wood.

According to scholar Rick Potts:With these tools you can crush better than an elephant’s molar can and cut better than a lion’s canine [tooth] can. Oldowan technology was like suddenly evolving a brand-new set of teeth outside your body, and it opened up a new variety of foods on the African savannah to our ancestors.

Related pages
 Stone Age
 Human evolution
 Stone tool
 Acheulean

References

 See also 

 Early Stone Age Tools (with photos) from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Category:Stone Age