World’s oldest tools discovered in northern Kenya

Lake Turkana, Kenya. Image by Wayne Feiden / CC BY-SA 2.0

Archaeologists, working near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, have uncovered the world’s oldest tools. Made by Australopithecus, an ape-like ancestor of modern day humans, or another species, Kenyanthropus, the tools were constructed 3.3 million years ago, and are 700,000 years older than the previous record holder. The researchers told Science magazine the tools were stones that had been deliberately ‘knapped’ or flaked, which made them into sharp cutting edges. Read more: independent.co.uk