Researchers have discovered a site in Kenya's Turkana Basin where early hominins crafted Oldowan stone tools consistently for nearly 300,000 years, from 2.75 to 2.44 million years ago. This endurance occurred amid extreme climate changes, including wildfires and droughts. The findings highlight how toolmaking helped ancestors adapt and survive.
In Kenya's Turkana Basin, at the Namorotukunan Site, an international team uncovered evidence of one of the earliest and longest-lasting traditions of stone toolmaking. Dating between roughly 2.75 and 2.44 million years ago, these Oldowan tools—sharp-edged implements serving as multi-purpose tools—demonstrate remarkable consistency despite environmental upheavals.
The study, published on November 4, 2025, in Nature Communications, used volcanic ash dating, magnetic patterns in sediments, chemical analyses of rock, and microscopic plant traces to link toolmaking to climatic shifts. Early hominins faced intense instability, with landscapes transforming from lush wetlands to dry, fire-swept grasslands and semideserts. Yet, their tool designs remained steady, suggesting knowledge was passed down across generations.
"This site reveals an extraordinary story of cultural continuity," said lead author David R. Braun, a professor of anthropology at George Washington University and affiliate of the Max Planck Institute. "What we're seeing isn't a one-off innovation—it's a long-standing technological tradition."
Senior author Susana Carvalho, director of science at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, added, "Our findings suggest that tool use may have been a more generalized adaptation among our primate ancestors."
Cutmarks on bones indicate the tools enabled meat eating, broadening diets amid changing ecosystems. "At Namorotukunan, cutmarks link stone tools to meat eating, revealing a broadened diet that endured across changing landscapes," said Frances Forrest at Fairfield University.
The landscape's shifts were stark, as noted by Rahab N. Kinyanjui at the National Museums of Kenya and Max Planck Institute: "The plant fossil record tells an incredible story: The landscape shifted from lush wetlands to dry, fire-swept grasslands and semideserts. As vegetation shifted, the toolmaking remained steady. This is resilience."
Niguss Baraki at George Washington University observed, "These finds show that by about 2.75 million years ago, hominins were already good at making sharp stone tools, hinting that the start of the Oldowan technology is older than we thought."
The research involved archaeologists, geologists, and paleoanthropologists from Kenya, Ethiopia, the United States, Brazil, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Fieldwork was conducted with permission from Kenya's National Museums and Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, in partnership with the Koobi Fora Field School and local Daasanach and Ileret communities. Funding came from the U.S. National Science Foundation, Leakey Foundation, Palaeontological Scientific Trust, Dutch Research Council, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, American Museum of Natural History, and Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research.