Prehistoric Commutes 

Humanity’s ancestors were forced to make long commutes long before the modern-day rush hour, according to a new study. 

A research team recently found that ancient toolmakers in East Africa were trekking miles to collect the right rocks for their gear, a finding that pushes back evidence of long-distance resource transport by some 600,000 years. 

The discovery comes from Nyayanga, a site along Kenya’s Lake Victoria, where archeologists have uncovered thousands of Oldowan tools dating back at least 2.6 million years. These tools consisted of sharp flakes and pounding stones used for processing plants, butchering animals, and even smashing open hippo bones.  

But the real surprise came when researchers traced their origins. 

Local rock around Nyayanga is relatively soft and not suitable for making durable tools. However, many of the collected artifacts were made from sturdy volcanic rhyolite and quartzite rock carried in from deposits up to eight miles away. 

“People often focus on the tools themselves, but the real innovation of the Oldowan may actually be the transport of resources from one place to another,” senior author Rick Potts explained in a press release. “The knowledge and intent to bring stone material to rich food sources was apparently an integral part of toolmaking behavior at the outset of the Oldowan.” 

Potts added that this behavior suggests early humans had the ability to plan ahead, map their surroundings, and remember where high-quality rocks could be found – which the authors described as a major cognitive leap. 

The discovery also raises questions about who exactly was doing the heavy lifting.  

Excavations at Nyayanga turned up two teeth from Paranthropus, a close evolutionary relative in the Homo genus – which includes modern humans – known for its massive jaws and teeth for chewing tough plants, according to Science News. 

Whether Paranthropus or early members of Homo carried the stones remains unclear, however.  

“Unless you find a hominin fossil actually holding a tool, you won’t be able to say definitively which species are making which stone tool assemblages,” noted lead author Emma Finestone. 

Still, she noted that the findings suggest “that there is a greater diversity of hominins making early stone tools than previously thought.” 

Other researchers praised the study, with archaeologist Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo telling Science News that the Nyayanga discovery is “the oldest documented case of long-distance transportation of raw materials.”