Evidence for Stone Tool-Assisted Consumption of Animal Tissues Before 3.39 Million Years Ago at Dikika, Ethiopia

Authors

Shannon P. McPherron, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Zeresenay Alemseged, California Academy of Sciences
Curtis W. Marean, Arizona State University
Jonathan G. Wynn, University of South FloridaFollow
Denné Reed, University of Texas
Denis Geraads, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
René Bobe, University of Georgia
Hamdallah A. Béarat, Arizona State University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-2010

Keywords

evolution

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09248

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) ago¹. At the nearby Bouri site several cut-marked bones also show stone tool use approximately 2.5 Myr ago². 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 ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar 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.

Rights Information

Terms of use for work posted in Scholar Commons.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Nature, v. 466, p. 857-860

Scholar Commons Citation

McPherron, Shannon P.; Alemseged, Zeresenay; Marean, Curtis W.; Wynn, Jonathan G.; Reed, Denné; Geraads, Denis; Bobe, René; and Béarat, Hamdallah A., "Evidence for Stone Tool-Assisted Consumption of Animal Tissues Before 3.39 Million Years Ago at Dikika, Ethiopia" (2010). School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications. 217.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/217