3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya
Open accessAbstract
Human evolutionary scholars have long supposed that the earliest stone tools were made by the genus Homo and that this technological development was directly linked to climate change and the spread of savannah grasslands. New fieldwork in West Turkana, Kenya, has identified evidence of much earlier hominin technological behaviour. We report the discovery of Lomekwi 3, a 3.3-million-year-old archaeological site where in situ stone artefacts occur in spatiotemporal association with Pliocene hominin fossils in a wooded palaeoenvironment. The Lomekwi 3 knappers, with a developing understanding of stone's fracture properties, combined core reduction with battering activities. Given the implications of the Lomekwi 3 assemblage for models aiming to converge environmental change, hominin evolution and technological origins, we propose for it the name 'Lomekwian', which predates the Oldowan by 700,000 years and marks a new beginning to the known archaeological record.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The earliest known stone tools, at 3.3 Ma, coincide in time with Au. afarensis and K. platyops and predate the earliest fossils of Homo by several hundred thousand years.
“the earliest known stone tools, at 3.3 Ma 26 , coincide in time with Au. afarensis (and the australopith-grade taxon K. platyops of eastern Africa), predating the earliest fossils of Homo by several hundred thousand years”
From The evolutionary history of the human face (2019) · cites this paper as [26]
Cites
The least-squares line and plane and the analysis of palaeomagnetic data
Kirschvink, J. L. (1980) · Geophysical Journal International · doi:10.1111/j.1365-246x.1980.tb02601.x · Cited by 5,502 · see citing works
Wickens, G. E., & White, F. B. (1985) · Kew Bulletin · doi:10.2307/4108277 · Cited by 1,456 · see citing works
Hilgen, F. J., Lourens, L. J., Dam, J., Beu, A. G., Boyes, A. F., Cooper, R. A., Krijgsman, W., Ogg, J. G., Piller, W. E., & Wilson, D. S. (2012) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-59425-9.00029-9 · Cited by 1,407 · see citing works
McPherron, S. P., Alemseged, Z., Marean, C. W., Wynn, J. G., Reed, D. N., Geraads, D., Bobe, R. L., & Béarat, H. A. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature09248 · Cited by 835 · see citing works
A New Species of The Genus Homo From Olduvai Gorge
Leakey, L. S. B., Tobias, P. V., & Napier, J. R. (1964) · Nature · doi:10.1038/202007a0 · Cited by 730 · see citing works
Self-citationWoody cover and hominin environments in the past 6 million years
Cerling, T. E., Wynn, J. G., Andanje, S. A., Bird, M. I., Korir, D. K., Levin, N. E., Mace, W., Macharia, A. N., Quade, J., & Remien, C. H. (2011) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature10306 · Cited by 638 · see citing works
2.5-million-year-old stone tools from Gona, Ethiopia
Semaw, S., Renne, P. R., Harris, J. W. K., Feibel, C. S., Bernor, R., Fesseha, N., & Mowbray, K. M. (1997) · Nature · doi:10.1038/385333a0 · Cited by 621 · see citing works
Self-citationEvolution of early Homo : An integrated biological perspective
Antón, S. C., Potts, R., & Aiello, L. C. (2014) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1236828 · Cited by 542 · see citing works
Percussion marks on bone surfaces as a new diagnostic of hominid behaviour
Blumenschine, R. J., & Selvaggio, M. M. (1988) · Nature · doi:10.1038/333763a0 · Cited by 523 · see citing works
2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia.
Semaw, S., Rogers, M. J., Quade, J., Renne, P., Butler, R., Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Stout, D., Hart, W. S., Pickering, T. R., & Simpson, S. W. (2003) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/s0047-2484(03)00093-9 · Cited by 431 · see citing works
New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages
Leakey, M. G., Spoor, F., Brown, F. H., Gathogo, P. N., Kiarie, C., Leakey, L., & McDougall, I. (2001) · Nature · doi:10.1038/35068500 · Cited by 409 · see citing works
Self-citationBobe, R. (2004) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2003.09.033 · Cited by 394 · see citing works
Late Pliocene hominid knapping skills: The case of Lokalalei 2C, West Turkana, Kenya
Delagnes, A., & Roche, H. M. (2005) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.12.005 · Cited by 374 · see citing works
Self-citationLate PlioceneHomoand Oldowan Tools from the Hadar Formation (Kada Hadar Member), Ethiopia
Kimbel, W. H., Walter, R. C., Johanson, D. C., Reed, K. E., Aronson, J. L., Assefa, Z., Marean, C. W., Eck, G. G., Bobe, R. L., Hovers, E., et al. (1996) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1006/jhev.1996.0079 · Cited by 341 · see citing works
Early hominid stone tool production and technical skill 2.34 Myr ago in West Turkana, Kenya
Roche, H., Delagnes, A., Brugal, J., et al. (1999) · Nature · doi:10.1038/19959 · Cited by 339 · see citing works
Self-citationStone knapping : the necessary conditions for a uniquely hominin behaviour
Roux, V., & Bril, B. (2005) · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · Cited by 336 · see citing works
4,300-Year-old chimpanzee sites and the origins of percussive stone technology
Mercader, J., Barton, H. J., Gillespie, J., Harris, J., Kuhn, S. L., Tyler, R. T., & Boesch, C. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0607909104 · Cited by 308 · see citing works
An introduction to flintworking
Crabtree, D. E., Muto, G. R., Lovgren, C., et al. (1972) · Idaho State University Museum eBooks · Cited by 266 · see citing works
Haslam, M., Hernandez‐Aguilar, A., Ling, V., et al. (2009) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08188 · Cited by 257 · see citing works
The First Humans – Origin and Early Evolution of the Genus Homo
Delson, E., Fleagle, J. G., Grine, F. E., Leakey, R. E. F., & MacPhee, R. D. E. (2009) · Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthroplogy series/Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthropology series · doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9980-9 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
Older than the Oldowan? Rethinking the emergence of hominin tool use
Panger, M., Brooks, A., Richmond, B., & Wood, B. (2003) · Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews · doi:10.1002/evan.10094 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
Stratigraphy and paleontology of Pliocene and Pleistocene localities west of Lake Turkana, Kenya
Harris, J., Brown, F. H., & Leakey, M. G. (1988) · Contributions in science · doi:10.5962/p.241284 · Cited by 222 · see citing works
Carvalho, S., Cunha, E. M., Sousa, C., et al. (2008) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.02.005 · Cited by 216 · see citing works
Wynn, J. G. (2003) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.10317 · Cited by 215 · see citing works
The Cutting edge: new approaches to the archaeology of human origins
(2010) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.48-0954 · Cited by 212 · see citing works
Technological variation in the earliest Oldowan from Gona, Afar, Ethiopia
Stout, D., Semaw, S., Rogers, M., et al. (2010) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.02.005 · Cited by 212 · see citing works
Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan
Delson, E., MacPhee, R. D. E., Hovers, E., & Braun, D. R. (2009) · Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthroplogy series/Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthropology series · doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9060-8 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
Isotopic evidence for Plio–Pleistocene environmental change at Gona, Ethiopia
Levin, N. E., Quade, J., Simpson, S. W., Semaw, S., & Rogers, M. (2004) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/s0012-821x(03)00707-6 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
Levin, N. E., Brown, F. H., Behrensmeyer, A. K., Bobe, R. L., & Cerling, T. E. (2011) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.04.026 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
McDougall, I., Brown, F. H., Vasconcelos, P. M., Cohen, B. E., Thiede, D. S., & Buchanan, M. J. (2012) · Journal of the Geological Society · doi:10.1144/0016-76492010-188 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Cerling, T. E., Bowman, J. R., & O’Neil, J. R. (1988) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/0031-0182(88)90104-6 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Percussion tools in Olduvai Beds I and II (Tanzania): Implications for early human activities
Torcal, R. M., & de la Torre, I. (2005) · Journal of Anthropological Archaeology · doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2004.12.001 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Paleoenvironments of the earliest stone toolmakers, Gona, Ethiopia
Quade, J., Levin, N. E., Semaw, S., et al. (2004) · Geological Society of America Bulletin · doi:10.1130/b25358.1 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Sakura, O., & Matsuzawa, T. (1991) · Ethology · doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1991.tb00249.x · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Cultural beginnings: Plio-Pleistocene archaeological occurrences from the Afar, Ethiopia
Harris, J. W. K. (1983) · African Archaeological Review · doi:10.1007/bf01116770 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Fox, D. L., & Koch, P. L. (2004) · Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2003.09.030 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
de la Torre, I. (2004) · Current Anthropology · doi:10.1086/422079 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Shea, J. J. (2012) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-012-9128-5 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Chimpanzee intelligence in nature and in captivity: isomorphism of symbol use and tool use
Matsuzawa, T. (1996) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511752414.017 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Geochronology of the pre-KBS Tuff sequence, Omo Group, Turkana Basin
McDougall, I., & Brown, F. H. (2008) · Journal of the Geological Society · doi:10.1144/0016-76492006-170 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Wood, B. A., & Leakey, M. G. (2011) · Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews · doi:10.1002/evan.20335 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Technological strategies in the Lower Pleistocene at Olduvai Beds I & II
de la Torre, I., & Torcal, R. M. (2005) · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Martín, F. D., Sánchez, P., Domínguez‐Rodrigo, M., et al. (2009) · Journal of Anthropological Archaeology · doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2009.03.001 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Visalberghi, E. M., Haslam, M., Spagnoletti, N., et al. (2013) · Journal of Archaeological Science · doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.03.021 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Geological and palaeontological context of a Pliocene juvenile hominin at Dikika, Ethiopia
Wynn, J. G., Alemseged, Z., Bobe, R., et al. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05048 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Raw material selectivity in Late Pliocene Oldowan sites in the Makaamitalu Basin, Hadar, Ethiopia
Goldman-Neuman, T., & Hovers, E. (2011) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.05.006 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Variability in Raw Material Selectivity at the Late Pliocene sites of Lokalalei, West Turkana, Kenya
Harmand, S. (2009) · Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthroplogy series/Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthropology series · doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9060-8_8 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Self-citationFirst occurrence of early Homo in the Nachukui Formation (West Turkana, Kenya) at 2.3-2.4Myr
Prat, S., Brugal, J., Tiercelin, J., Barrat, J., Bohn, M., Delagnes, A., Harmand, S., Kimeu, K., Kibunjia, M., Texier, P.-J., et al. (2005) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.03.009 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Self-citationEssays presented to C. G. Seligman
(1935) · African Affairs · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a100885 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
The origins of stone tool technology in Africa: a historical perspective
de la Torre, I. (2011) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0350 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Quinn, R. L., Lepre, C. J., Feibel, C. S., Wright, J. D., Mortlock, R. A., Harmand, S., Brugal, J., & Roche, H. (2013) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.04.002 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Self-citationInvention, Reinvention and Innovation
Hovers, E. (2012) · Developments in quaternary science · doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-53821-5.00005-1 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
New insights into hominin lithic activities at FLK North Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Martín, F. D., Yustos, P. S., Domínguez‐Rodrigo, M., et al. (2010) · Quaternary Research · doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2010.07.019 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Origins and Adaptations of Early Homo: What Archeology Tells Us
Roche, H., Blumenschine, R. J., & Shea, J. J. (2009) · Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthroplogy series/Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthropology series · doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9980-9_12 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Self-citationOrigins of Human Innovation and Creativity
Elias, S. A. (2012) · Developments in quaternary science · doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-53821-5.00001-4 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Hominid environments at Hadar from paleosol studies in a framework of Ethiopian climate change
Aronson, J. L., Hailemichael, M., & Savin, S. M. (2008) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.04.004 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Campisano, C. J. (2011) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.05.002 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
de la Torre, I., & Torcal, R. M. (2010) · Paléo · doi:10.4000/paleo.1877 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Compilation of East Africa Soil Carbonate Stable Isotope Data
Levin, N. (2013) · EarthChem Library · doi:10.1594/ieda/100231 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Le débitage sur enclume aux Bosses (Lamagdelaine, Lot, France)
Mourre, V., Jarry, M., Colonge, D., et al. (2010) · Paléo · doi:10.4000/paleo.1894 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Alimen, M. H. (1963) · Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française · doi:10.3406/bspf.1963.3879 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Brain Plasticity and Human Evolution
Sherwood, C. C., & Gómez-Robles, A. (2017) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-102215-100009 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
The evolutionary history of the human face
Lacruz, R. S., Stringer, C. B., Kimbel, W. H., Wood, B., Harvati, K., O’Higgins, P., Bromage, T. G., & Arsuaga, J.-L. (2019) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0865-7 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Structural history of human SRGAP2 proteins
Sporny, M., Guez-Haddad, J., Kreusch, A., Shakartzi, S., Neznansky, A., Cross, A., Isupov, M. N., Qualmann, B., Kessels, M. M., & Opatowsky, Y. (2017) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/msx094 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
The Challenge of Evolution to Religion
De Smedt, J., & De Cruz, H. (2019) · Cambridge University Press · doi:10.1017/9781108685436 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
- Authors
- Harmand, S., Lewis, J. E., Feibel, C. S., Lepre, C. J., Prat, S., Lenoble, A., Boës, X., Quinn, R. L., Brenet, M., Arroyo, A., Taylor, N., Clément, S., Daver, G., Brugal, J.-P., Leakey, L., Mortlock, R. A., Wright, J. D., Lokorodi, S., Kirwa, C., Kent, D. V., & Roche, H.
- Affiliations
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- Stony Brook University (US)
- National Museums of Kenya (KE)
- Corresponding author
- Harmand, Sonia
- Lewis, Jason E.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2015-05-20
- Volume
- 521
- Issue
- 7552
- Pages
- 310-315
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1601169278
- Cited by
- 1,123
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 54 · 2025: 82 · 2024: 115 · 2023: 127 · 2022: 98 · 2021: 136 · 2020: 85 · 2019: 93 · 2018: 117 · 2017: 74 · 2016: 109 · 2015: 33
- FWCI
- 466.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hal.science
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Rutgers University Community Repository (Rutgers University) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Columbia Academic Commons (Columbia University)
- Funders
- National Geographic Society
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-12, ANR-12-CULT-0006)
- Fondation Fyssen
- Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
- National Commission for Science and Technology
- Research Council, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeology and Rock Art Studies
- Keywords
- lithic artifacts, hominin evolution, Pliocene hominins, Oldowan, core reduction, battering, flint knapping, savannah expansion, West Turkana
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Archaeology, Environment, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Kenya, Paleontology, Technology, Time Factors, Hominidae, History, Ancient, Tool Use Behavior
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
