Evidence for stone-tool-assisted consumption of animal tissues before 3.39 million years ago at Dikika, Ethiopia

Abstract

The oldest direct evidence of stone tool manufacture comes from Gona (Ethiopia) and dates to between 2.6 and 2.5 million years (Myr) ago. At the nearby Bouri site several cut-marked bones also show stone tool use approximately 2.5 Myr ago. Here we report stone-tool-inflicted marks on bones found during recent survey work in Dikika, Ethiopia, a research area close to Gona and Bouri. On the basis of low-power microscopic and environmental scanning electron microscope observations, these bones show unambiguous stone-tool cut marks for flesh removal and percussion marks for marrow access. The bones derive from the Sidi Hakoma Member of the Hadar Formation. Established (40)Ar-(39)Ar dates on the tuffs that bracket this member constrain the finds to between 3.42 and 3.24 Myr ago, and stratigraphic scaling between these units and other geological evidence indicate that they are older than 3.39 Myr ago. Our discovery extends by approximately 800,000 years the antiquity of stone tools and of stone-tool-assisted consumption of ungulates by hominins; furthermore, this behaviour can now be attributed to Australopithecus afarensis.

A multidisciplinary reconstruction of Palaeolithic nutrition that holds promise for the prevention and treatment of diseases of civilisation

“…The oldest stone tools found so far are dated to 2·6 Mya (258,259) and it has been suggested that these were used for flesh removal and percussion on long bones for marrow access. From this time onward stone tools were apparently used for defleshing and butchering of large animals.…”

Genomic signatures of diet-related shifts during human origins

“…With H. erectus, there is an increase in body size, skeletal indicators of a striding bipedal gait, a reduction in the size of the teeth and jaws and a substantial jump in relative brain size, which together with the evidence from the archaeological record suggest a dietary strategy that included bulk processing of a significant proportion of high-quality, calorie-rich food items [6,28,36 -38] (figure 1). There is evidence at this time for extraction of marrow and flesh from large mammals using stone tools [39 -41], although recent evidence argues that this may have occurred much earlier in Australopithecus afarensis [42]. Early representatives of the genus Homo probably used tools for the processing of both animal and plant materials and for wooden tool production [36,43]; however, hunting weapons do not show up unequivocally in the fossil record until about 400 thousand years ago [44].…”

Functional mastery of percussive technology in nut-cracking and stone-flaking actions: experimental comparison and implications for the evolution of the human brain

“…The earliest direct archaeological evidence of food item processing using Oldowan stone tools is from animal bones, which show cut marks associated with stripping off edible soft tissue and also fractures associated with cracking them open to obtain edible bone marrow. Using stone tools to cut animal soft tissue is attested from marks on the surfaces of bones in the earliest archaeological record (2.5 -2.6 Myr BP, associated with the extinct hominin Australopithecus garhi [24]; possibly also at 3.4 Myr BP and associated with Australopithecus afarensis [3], but see [25]). …”

“…Archaeological evidence suggests that tool use has been fundamental to hominin life for at least 2.6 Myr [1,2] and probably more [3,4]. Stone knapping represents the earliest known instance of toolmaking and tool use by early hominins [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”