Study Highlights Human Activity In Tanzania 2 Million Years Ago
A new study was recently published by principal investigators from Canada and Tanzania working with partners in Africa, North America, and Europe. The entire team is working together to describe a large assemblage of stone tools, fossil bones, and chemical proxies obtained from dental and plant materials. Researchers on the study also examined tiny microscopic bits of silica left by plants, ancient pollen, and airborne charcoal resulting from natural fires retrieved from an ancient riverbed and Lake outcrops on the Serengeti plains.Scientists say that the data gathered presents the earliest evidence for human activity in the Olduvai Gorge, dating back to about 2 million years ago. Researchers say their study is an important step in filling the gap between fossils and environmental context, and cultural items left by extinct humans. The data used in the study was obtained during a survey of an unexplored western portion of the ancient basin in a locality called Ewass Oldupa.
Stone tools were uncovered at the site belonging to a culture identified by archaeologists as Oldowan. The discovery shows that ancient humans were using tools millions of years ago. Concentrations of both stone tools and animal fossils showed that humans and fauna were gathering around water sources. The study found that early humans carried rocks with them that they used as tools that were obtained from distant sources across the basin at a distance of 12 kilometers east.
These ancient humans also have the flexibility to survive in changing environments. Research showed that humans continued to come to Ewass Oldupa to use local resources for over 200,000 years despite significant and rapid changes to the landscape. Artifacts discovered at the site are dated to the Early Pleistocene era about 2 million years ago. Researchers note that it's not clear which species made the tools, and no hominid fossils were discovered in the study. However, younger sediments from a site 350 meters away did have Homo habilis fossils.