A 1.4-million-year-old bone handaxe from Konso, Ethiopia, shows advanced tool technology in the early Acheulean

Abstract

In the past decade, the early Acheulean before 1 Mya has been a focus of active research. Acheulean lithic assemblages have been shown to extend back to ∼1.75 Mya, and considerable advances in core reduction technologies are seen by 1.5 to 1.4 Mya. Here we report a bifacially flaked bone fragment (maximum dimension ∼13 cm) of a hippopotamus femur from the ∼1.4 Mya sediments of the Konso Formation in southern Ethiopia. The large number of flake scars and their distribution pattern, together with the high frequency of cone fractures, indicate anthropogenic flaking into handaxe-like form. Use-wear analyses show quasi-continuous alternate microflake scars, wear polish, edge rounding, and striae patches along an ∼5-cm-long edge toward the handaxe tip. The striae run predominantly oblique to the edge, with some perpendicular, on both the cortical and inner faces. The combined evidence is consistent with the use of this bone artifact in longitudinal motions, such as in cutting and/or sawing. This bone handaxe is the oldest known extensively flaked example from the Early Pleistocene. Despite scarcity of well-shaped bone tools, its presence at Konso shows that sophisticated flaking was practiced by ∼1.4 Mya, not only on a range of lithic materials, but also occasionally on bone, thus expanding the documented technological repertoire of African Early Pleistocene Homo.

Elephant bones for the Middle Pleistocene toolmaker

“…One bone handaxe was reported by M. Leakey from Olduvai Bed II [ 1 : pl. 40] corresponding to an age of 1.65–1.3 million years (Ma) and another one is reported from the site of Konso in Ethiopia with an age of 1.4 Ma [ 2 ]. According to Mary Leakey there were 125 artificially modified bone and teeth mainly in Olduvai Bed II.…”

The Elephant in the Handaxe: Lower Palaeolithic Ontologies and Representations

“…I will further argue that butchered elephant bones were purposely selected to allow early humans to ‘become elephants’ and to maintain the special relationship between the species, much in accordance with the arguments presented in Tanner (2014) and similarly to the way indigenous groups practised—or practise—their ontology about the animals they depend upon. It is of note that Sano et al (2020) provide the first unequivocal evidence for the use of a 1.4 million-year-old bone handaxe from Konso in carcass processing. I suggest that this important discovery further supports a dual functional and perceptual role for these items: use of a biface does not negate a complementary role in signifying the relationships of early humans with the megafauna who sustained them and with the cosmos in general.…”

The origins of human cumulative culture: from the foraging niche to collective intelligence

“…While evidence on sex dimorphism and philopatry is inconclusive, delayed weaning indicated by calcium isotopes [115] suggests provisioning, division of labour and interdependence between sexes. There is also a marked cultural transition in Homo erectus, with more persistent production of Oldowan tools (from 2 Mya) [110] and the more complex Acheulean tools (1.76 Mya) overlapping in time and sites [116], bone and shell tools [117,118], innovation in handaxe production from 900 kya [119], systematic control of fire from at least 780 kya [120,121] and dispersal routes following raw material sources [122]. In summary, increased within-group cooperation, and possibly gestural teaching [76], may have reduced the risk of cultural loss and facilitated transmission of technology compared to australopithecines.…”